It’s been an enthralling week of tennis so far at the ATP Washington Open and it’s extremely likely that the semifinals and finals elevate the level of play even further. Among the semifinalists are the top seed Andrey Rublev along with 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Nick Kyrgios. They both take on young challengers and as ever, we here at LWOT are offering our previews and predictions for both semifinal clashes. But who will advance
ATP Washington Semifinal Predictions
Yoshihito Nishioka vs Andrey Rublev
Head-to-head: Nishioka 1-1 Rublev
Russian world #8 Rublev has looked solid this week and it’s a testament to his consistency over the whole 2022 season. The Russian despite getting barred from playing in Wimbledon still boasts a 35-11 record this year and it’ll take some stopping from someone to derail the Rublev train. Yoshihito Nishioka has beaten Rublev once in their previous two meeting but that almost three and a half years ago and it looks less likely of a repeat result of that day. The Japanese has played well this week and it wouldn’t be a surprise too see him nab a set but anything more would be an upset.
Prediction: Rublev in 3
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Nick Kyrgios vs Mikael Ymer
Head-to-head: first meeting
Mikael Ymer has had a fantastic week with not many foreseeing this after the 2022 season he’s had. The Swede’s quarterfinal victory was a confident one and it puts him within one match of his second career ATP tour final. That won’t be coming easy as he now faces his toughest test yet in Kyrgios.
Kyrgios had a straightforward end to his first match of the day but the second match against Frances Tiafoe was a roller coaster. The Aussie had to dig very deep and it’s now a question of who recovers better of the two. Keeping that aside, Kyrgios possesses the superior game on his serve and his groundstrokes and once he’s locked in there’s not many players who can do much. Expect Ymer to put up a solid fight but the Aussie moves on.
Prediction: Kyrgios in 2
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