TENNIS NEWS – RICKY’S PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR WEDNESDAY IN LONDON: MURRAY VS. NISHIKORI AND WAWRINKA VS. CILIC

Written by: Staff on 15th November 2016

TENNIS NEWS - RICKY'S PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR WEDNESDAY IN LONDON: MURRAY VS. NISHIKORI AND WAWRINKA VS. CILIC

epa05631276 Japan's Kei Nishikori returns to Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka during their singles group stage match at the ATP World Tour finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 14 November 2016. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

By Ricky Dimon

Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori will be looking to take control of Group A at the 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday. Murray and Nishikori are coming off wins over Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka, respectively. Cilic and Wawrinka will contest the nightcap in what is likely a must-win situation for each player.

Ricky previews the two matches and makes his predictions.

(1) Andy Murray vs. (5) Kei Nishikori

Murray and Nishikori will be squaring off for the 10th time in their careers on Wednesday afternoon. The head-to-head series stands at 7-2 in favor of Murray, but Nishikori won their most recent battle 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in this summer’s U.S. Open quarterfinals. They have faced each other once before at the World Tour Finals, where Nishikori prevailed in the opening match of the 2014 event via a 6-4, 6-4 decision.

Britain’s Andy Murray returns to Marin Cilic of Croatia during their singles group stage match at the ATP World Tour finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 14 November 2016. EPA/ANDY RAIN

The good news for Murray, though, is that he has never been hotter heading into the O2. He became No. 1 in the world for the first time last week thanks mostly to winning an amazing seven of his last nine events. The three-time Grand Slam champion is an incredible 74-9 for the year following a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Cilic on Monday.

Nishikori’s struggles since stuning Murray in New York include a setback against Cilic in the Basel title match. The world No. 5 also pulled out of his second match in Tokyo with an injury and squandered two match points against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in round three of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. He looked good, however, on Monday in a 6-2, 6-3 beatdown of Wawrinka.

Although the year-end No. 1 spot could all come down to a final between Murray and Novak Djokovic on Sunday, there is a chance that each round-robin match will be crucial in determining that race. A motivated Murray is obviously aware of that fact and should be able to pick up another win on Wednesday.

Pick: Murray in 2

(3) Stan Wawrinka vs. (7) Marin Cilic

Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka returns to Japan’s Kei Nishikori during their singles group stage match at the ATP World Tour finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 14 November 2016. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Wawrinka and Cilic will be meeting for the 13th time in their careers. The head-to-head series is being dominated by Wawrinka 10-2, including 5-2 on hard courts. Both of Cilic’s wins came in January of 2010 (in Chennai and at the Australian Open), and he has since dropped six straight decisions to Wawrinka. They most recently collided earlier this year on the clay courts of Geneva, where the Swiss treated the home fans to a 6-4, 7-6(11) victory in the final. A previous showdown at the World Tour Finals in 2014 was taken by Wawrinka 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Roles are reversed, though, in 2016. In 2014, Cilic was the reigning U.S. Open champion and slumped both physically and mentally during the months in between the two tournaments. Now it is Wawrinka who recently triumphed in Flushing Meadows–and, similarly, his tennis has responded in the same way Cilic’s did. The world No. 3 is a mere 6-5 since the U.S. Open and 3-5 in his last eight matches. He looked uninspired in his London opener and lost to Nishikori 6-2, 6-3.

Cilic, meanwhile, heated up after leaving New York and clinched his place in the year-end championship by reaching the semifinals in Paris. The world No. 7 also led Croatia to the Davis Cup final, advanced to he Tokyo semis, and won Basel.

Pick: Cilic in 2