Predicted Winners in BOLD
[5] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. Fabio Fognini (ITA) H2H – I have been bullish on Fognini this entire event. I think Rafa has enough defensive skills as well as shot-making ability of his own to diffuse a red hot Fognini. Fognini has claimed some big wins over Nadal, but the odds are that Nadal can do what he ordinarily does more often than Fognini can produce an extraordinary performance.
My Prediction: Rafael Nadal d. Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-3
[4] Roger Federer (SUI) vs [12] Nick Kyrgios (AUS) – Kyrgios has had nuclear power on his serve in two 2017 showdowns with Djokovic. I expect that the young Aussie will again have a huge serving day. I think he holds serve easily enough to put pressure on Federer. I am also not sure how quickly Federer will bounce back from playing a long match yesterday. This of course could go either way and the player who returns better will likely win, but my gut feeling is that Kyrgios will have more firepower in this given 2 of 3 set match.
Nick was on FIRE last night against Zverev! He’s going to bring it to Roger today. I think Roger’s not gonna know what hit him!
I think Roger will be able to hold most of the time. Can he break? Can he win 1 or 2 tiebreaks?
That’ll be his only chance!
I think if he can get to Kyrgios’ backhand he might have a chance, but I am not sure how many true rallies they will really have.