The Russian missed the first round as he was one of the top four seeds. He opened the ATP 250 tournament by beating Australian qualifier Alex Bolt to book his place in the quarterfinals. Khachanov then faced sixth-seeded Mackenzie McDonald and came back from losing the first set before winning the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semifinal meeting with fourth-seeded Sebastian Korda top seed of the tournament.
The first set was tense, with both players trading breaks in the first six games. Khachanov took the American’s serve for the second time and then held on for a 7-5 victory. He took a 3-0 lead in the second set before Korda pulled back in the sixth game. But Karen ultimately won the set 6-4 and secured a place in the final.
Yoshihito Nishioka, meanwhile, is the eighth seed in the Zhuhai tournament and opened with a 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Terence Atmane. He then recorded a comfortable victory against Lloyd Harris 7-6, 7-6 to secure his place in the quarter-finals.
Here, the Japanese met third-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff and beat him 6-4, 7-5, setting up a semifinal meeting with Aslan Karatsev. Nishioka made two breaks in the first set to Karatsev’s one and won the match with a score of 6-4.
The Russian really wanted to get back into the match and led 4:1 in the second set. However, Nishioka staged a comeback by winning five games in a row to take the second set 6-4 and reach his first final of 2023.
Khachanov leads 3-1 in his head-to-head against Nishioka. The last meeting between them took place in the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open, where the Russians crushed the Japanese with a score of 6-0, 6-0, 7-6 (4).
Predictions for the Karen Khachanov – Yoshihito Nishioka final
Khachanov was out of action for some time, which affected his performance in the early stages of his return from injury. However, at the moment the Russian is in good form and is the favorite to win the tournament.
Khachanov has looked very strong on his first serve in Zhuhai so far, serving 16 aces and winning 102 of 132 points (77.2%). However, his second serve seemed problematic at times, as evidenced by his 10 double faults. The Russian has hit 66 winners so far, compared to 23 unforced errors.
Khachanov’s serve has always been a key weapon and he will try to make the most of it. The Russian plays aggressively and hits very powerful and fairly consistent groundstrokes, as evidenced by his lack of unforced errors.
Nishioka scored 139 points out of 193 on his first serve (72.03%), with six aces to his name. He also hit 66 winners while committing just 27 unforced errors.
The Japanese will seek to dominate his serve while seeking to achieve the decisive break. His agility and movement on the pitch will serve him well, as will his defensive skills. But the Russian has repeatedly shown his composure against the strongest opponents of his career. Nishioka is not one of the strongest, so Karen will probably be able to emerge victorious from this confrontation.
Forecast: Khachanov will win in straight sets.
Source: Sport
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