The draw at the ATP Mifel Open in Los Cabos comes down to the quarterfinal round on Day 4, bringing you plenty of late-night entertainment. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match. Who’s going to progress to the semifinals?
ATP Los Cabos Day 4 Predictions
Jordan Thompson vs Brandon Nakashima
Head-to-head: first meeting
With his quarterfinal here in Los Cabos, Thompson has now won at least two main draw matches at four tournaments in a row. The Australian beat the Croatian veteran Ivo Karlovic and now Austrian Sebastian Ofner in an almost two and a half hour battle.
His opponent, the 19-year-old American, is into his first tour-level quarterfinal of the year, only the second in his young career. En route there, Nakashima beat fellow Americans Jeffrey John Wolf and Sam Querrey. Back on his best surface, the American will be hoping to march towards breaking the Top 100.
Predictions: Nakashima in 3
John Isner vs Alex Bolt
Head-to-head: first meeting
Isner is playing in his first non-Slam event since May and he did not have a stellar start. The 36-year-old struggled past Evgeny Donskoy in a third-set tiebreak in the second round after receiving a bye in the first. Despite the unconvincing win, Isner is still the favorite to reach the final four here as his opponent is ranked more than 100 spots lower.
After a bizarre first-round win over Andreas Seppi, Bolt took care of business in the Round of 16. The Australian only allowed Emilio Gomez four games and dismissed him after an hour and six minutes. Bolt is the outsider here but could definitely cause a rusty Isner some trouble.
Predictions: Isner in 3
Cameron Norrie vs Ernesto Escobedo
Head-to-head: Norrie 1-0 Escobedo
The top seed had a bye in the first round so Norrie only started his tournament Wednesday against Elias Ymer. After a rocky first set, where Ymer had three set points, Norrie won the second set in a more convincing fashion.
Escobedo has been proving that tennis is a sport of match-ups, being in the inferior form to his opponents, but controlling the head-to-head against them. The qualifier defeated both Mackenzie McDonald and Denis Kudla in straight sets for his best run so far in 2021. This time, the head-to-head should not matter as Norrie leads 1-0 but only due to a retirement.
Predictions: Norrie in 2
Taylor Fritz vs Steve Johnson
Head-to-head: Fritz 2-2 Johnson
Taylor Fritz opened with a grueling match last almost three hours against Illya Marchenko, during which he had six match points saved. This was a big test of his body’s ability on hard courts after the surgery, but the 23-year-old American passed.
The struggling Steve Johnson has won back-to-back matches for the second time this season, defeating wildcard Gerardo Lopez Villasenor and the equally-struggling Yasutaka Uchiyama. Though winning matches is a good sign, we should not take this as an indicator that the 31-year-old is back to his best. Despite their age difference, Fritz and Johnson have already faced each other four times, most recently at Wimbledon this year when Fritz won the five-set battle.
Predictions: Fritz in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
