RICKY’S PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR DAY 3 IN MIAMI, INCLUDING NADAL VS. SELA AND NISHIKORI VS. ANDERSON

Written by: Staff on 23rd March 2017

RICKY'S PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR DAY 3 IN MIAMI, INCLUDING NADAL VS. SELA AND NISHIKORI VS. ANDERSON

epa05851154 Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their match at the 2017 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, USA, 15 March 2017. EPA/LARRY W. SMITH |

Ricky’s preview and picks for Day 3 in Miami, including Nadal vs. Sela and Nishikori vs. Anderson

By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal will begin his Miami Open campaign on Friday, with Dudi Sela standing in his way of a spot in the third round. Kei Nishikori is also in action, while Jack Sock and Yoshihito Nishioka are coming off impressive performances in Indian Wells.

Ricky previews the matches and makes his predictions.

(5) Rafael Nadal vs. Dudi Sela

Nadal and Sela will be squaring off for only the second time in their careers. Their only previous meeting came two years ago at the Australian Open, where Nadal cruised 6-1, 6-0, 7-5. The Spaniard reached the final Down Under earlier this year, but Roger Federer is the man to blame for the fact that Nadal’s 2017 campaign has merely been “good” as opposed to “great.” Federer outlasted Nadal in five sets at the Aussie Open and handled him 6-2, 6-3 last week in Indian Wells.

Sela had no problem earning his place in this contest, as the 31-year-old thrashed qualifier Christian Harrison 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday. Ranked 81st in the world, Sela is a mediocre 5-7 at the ATP level in 2017 and also won a Challenger title in Canberra, Australia. As their lone history against each other indicates, this is a nightmarish matchup for Sela–who does not own the firepower to give Nadal trouble and will often be hitting one-handed backhands at–or even above–shoulder level.

Pick: Nadal in 2

Kevin Anderson vs. (2) Kei Nishikori

Nishikori and Anderson are set to face each other for the fourth time in their careers at the ATP level. All three of their previous contests came in 2015, with Nishikori taking the first two–6-4, 6-4 decision in the Memphis final and 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the Acapulco semis. Anderson gained a measure of revenge by upsetting Nishikori 7-6(10), 7-6(3) at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

A big reason for Nishikori’s No. 4 ranking and No. 2 seed this fortnight is a trip to the Miami final last spring (fell to Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3). The 27-year-old is 17-6 lifetime at this tournament with one semifinal result (2014) and five consecutive appearances in at least the fourth round. Nishikori is a solid but unspectacular 12-5 this season and coming off a quarterfinal finish at the Indian Wells Masters. Finally back from various injury woes, Anderson is struggling down at 74th in the world. The South African advanced one round in the California desert and picked up his second match win of the year by beating Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 7-5 on Wednesday. Anderson will have trouble dictating play the entire time because few players are better than turning defense into offense with an awesome return game than Nishikori.

Pick: Nishikori in 2

(13) Jack Sock vs. Yoshihito Nishioka

Sock’s run to the Indian Wells semis was particularly impressive because he picked up all four of his wins in three sets–at the expense of Henri Laaksonen, Grigor Dimitrov, Malek Jaziri, and Nishikori. Although the American finally went down to Federer 6-1, 7-6(4), he is still an amazing 15-3 this season with titles in Auckland and Delray Beach.

Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan reacts against Jordan Thompson of Australia during a first round match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 22 March 2017. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

Up first for Sock on Friday in Miami is a second career meeting with Nishioka, whose Indian Wells run was arguably even more incredible. It all started when the 21-year-old from Japan bowed out to Elias Ymer in the final round of qualifying only to get a lucky-loser spot in the main draw and face none other than Ymer the very next day. Nishioka easily got revenge (6-4, 6-1) and was off to the races, besting Ivo Karlovic and Tomas Berdych before going down to eventual runner-up Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) after twice failing to serve out the match. The world No. 58 just recently played against Sock in Acapulco and pulled off a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 upset, which marked their first-ever head-to-head showdown. An on-fire Sock should be able to turn the tide this time around.

Pick: Sock in 2