ATP Acapulco: Quarterfinal Predictions

The ATP Acapulco event, officially titled this year as the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, has everything you could ask for in its quarterfinal participants. There are the frontrunners in Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer. There are young hopefuls carrying in the weight of their countries: Bernard Tomic, Ryan Harrison. There are big servers who know how to take advantage of the quick courts: Ivo Karlovic, Kevin Anderson. And there are mid-tier veterans who know how to win: Alexandr Dolgopolov, Viktor Troicki.

Those eight players add up to very intriguing match ups in the quarterfinal round. Who will come out on top and earn their place in the semifinals of this big event? Read on and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Find Thursday’s quarterfinal Order of Play here.

Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs. Viktor Troicki (SRB)

Anderson has had a long February. After losing in the final at Memphis to Kei Nishikori, his flight to his next tournament was grounded due to snow. He had to drive a lengthy distance to another airport to get a flight that arrived less than a day before his next match in Delray Beach. After losing early in Delray Beach, Anderson took a wild card into Acapulco as the No.4 seed. He easily handled Dustin Brown in the first match, but struggle to put away American Steve Johnson.

Kei Nishikori is the only player that has looked at the top of his game in both matches played down in Acapulco.

Troicki is one of only three of the quarterfinalists who have not dropped a set. The veteran Serbian is at No.43 in the world tour rankings and already has a title this year in Sydney. He will look to neutralize the big serve of Anderson and wear the big man down. Anderson has looked out of sorts in the windy conditions this week. The upset is within reason.

Pick: Troicki

Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)

Kei Nishikori is the only player that has looked at the top of his game in both matches played down in Acapulco. He played probably the most windy match in his first round victory over the feisty qualifier Alejandro Gonzalez. Yen-Hsun Lu, who beat fellow quarterfinalist Kevin Anderson last week, was no match for Nishikori’s dominating ground game.

Dolgopolov’s path started off rocky, but he reached the quarterfinal with a convincing win over the dangerous Andreas Haider-Maurer. His style of play is similar to Nishikori’s. He likes to dictate form the baseline and use his speed to turn defense into offense. Unfortunately for the Ukranian, Nishikori is just much better at it.

Prediciton: Nishikori

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs. Ryan Harrison (USA)

Though it may not be the most exciting match to watch, these two players make it the most interesting. Karlovic has ridden his big serve to a great year and is coming off a title at Delray Beach. His huge serve frustrates the best of returners. The only way to beat Karlovic is not to get thrown off your game as the aces invariably fly by. His opponent must get as many balls back in play as possible and be ready to line up numerous passing shots.

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Enter Ryan Harrison. Harrison is not known to have a short fuse and should be able to stick with his strategy. He has the speed and groundstrokes to beat the big man at the net. It should make for a tight match that could go either way. Karlovic surprisingly has not played a tiebreak this tournament. Expect that streak to end in a grueling match of short, quick points that will try Harrison’s mental edge. After pulling of the win of his career by besting No.3 seed Grigor Dimitrov, Harrison won’t be able to within Dr. Ivo’s onslaught.

Prediction: Karlovic

Bernard Tomic (AUS) vs. David Ferrer (ESP)

Tomic has raked in some wins this month, reaching the semis in Memphis and the quarters at Delray Beach. Both times he lost to Donald Young. Tomic has a decent serve, good speed, and great improvisation. Three set wins over Adrian Mannarino and Benjamin Becker are impressive, but does Tomic have enough left in the tank against the best that is David Ferrer?

Tomic rode the crowd to great heights in Australian, but he will be on the other end in Acapulco. The Mexican crowd hugely favors David Ferrer, who has taken the Acapulco title three times. In the same way the relentless serves of Karlovic can frustrate the returner, Ferrer’s defense and ability to keep a rally alive with speed and penetrating ground strokes can be debilitating for his opponents. Expect Tomic to get away from his best tennis by going for too much in an attempt to hit winners against the Spaniard.

Prediction: Ferrer

Next: Top 10 Returners in Tennis Today

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