Kei Nishikori will be up against Kamil Majchrzak in his opening round match at the 2019 Australian Open that will kick-start from Monday.
Watch & bet on Kei Nishikori v Kamil Majchrzak with bet365 here* on Tuesday, January 15. The Nishikori v Majchrzak timing will be announced soon.
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Nishikori Finds his Form
Injuries had laid Nishikori low for a while but this once, world number four, has bounced back remarkably last year with some excellent performances. In 2017, he lost his place in the top 20 of the world rankings but 2018 saw a turnaround despite his absence from the Australian Open.
A fourth round appearance at the French Open was about a par performance but this was followed by his first ever quarter-final entry at the Wimbledon and a semi-final at the US Open that pushed him back into contention for the ATP World Tour Finals place.
Amidst all this there was also a Masters final entry, at Monte-Carlo where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Two other finals followed, at the Japan Open and the Vienna Open but both times he finished runner-up.
The narrative might have changed from Nishikori’s comeback to his nine successive losses in the final of tournaments, which is what happened when he lost in Vienna to Kevin Anderson but the start of 2019 changed that.
Nishikori went on to capture the Brisbane International title by beating Daniil Medvedev in the final, making it his 12th title win and a boost to his confidence going into this one.
Majchrzak’s First Ever Grand Slam
22-year-old Majchrzak is currently ranked 187th in the world but you can expect that to change thanks to entry into this main draw of the Australian Open, the first time ever he’s featured in a Grand Slam main draw.
The Polish player has featured on the Challenger circuit, winning eight titles on it but never really threatened to enter a Grand Slam first round – never even reaching the third round of the qualifiers. This is the first time he’s managed that and won that match too to set up this meeting against Nishikori.
Nishikori v Majchrzak Head to Head:
This will be the very first time that they will be playing each other. Incidentally this is also the first time the Pole played in round one of a tournament above the Challenger circuit since the Antalya Open in June 2017.
Kei Nishikori v Kamil Majchrzak – Who Will Win?
There’s no doubting that Nishikori will start off as a huge favourite going into this encounter. Where this could be bit of a banana peel is that the Japanese hasn’t probably seen much of Majchrzak going into this match and he might be able to push Nishikori to a tie-breaker as a result. But expect a straight-set win for Nishikori otherwise.
You can watch & bet on Kei Nishikori v Kamil Majchrzak with bet365 on Tuesday, January 15.
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