The ATP Tokyo Open will see the remaining second-round match-ups played out tomorrow, though without the top seed Casper Ruud who was eliminated in the opening round. As always, we here at LWOT are offering our preview and prediction for every match including Nick Kyrgios vs Kamil Majchrzak. But who will come out on top?
ATP Tokyo 4 Predictions
Miomir Kecmanovic vs Daniel Evans
Head-to-head: Kecmanovic 1-0 Evans
After a strong start to the season, including quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Miami as well as a fourth-round showing at the Australian Open, Miomir Kecmanovic’s season has rather petered out. Kecmanovic has won just four out of his last ten matches. But he did impress in coming back from a set down in against Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round here. Dan Evans’ season, meanwhile, has been largely mediocre outside of his semifinal run in Montreal. This week, the Briton came back from a set down to defeat Radu Albot 6-4 in the third. Kecmanovic has won their previous meeting at Roland Garros last season, though clay is Evans’ worst surface by far. The match should be more even on hard courts but the Serb is probably still a slight favourite here.
Prediction: Kecmanovic in 3
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Denis Shapovalov vs Rio Noguchi
Head-to-head: first meeting
After a strong run to the Australian Open quarterfinals, Denis Shapovalov’s season has been largely disappointing with the Canadian only showing glimpses of his true potential. The 23-year-old is coming into Tokyo with decent form though after reaching the final in Seoul last week. In his opener in Tokyo, Shapovalov took out Steve Johnson in straight sets.
It’s been a successful year on the ITF circuit for Rio Noguchi who has managed to win four titles, break into the top 300 of the rankings, and now got a win on his main tour debut. He defeated fellow qualifier, Ramkumar Ramanathan, in a third-set tiebreak to notch his first tour-level win. Noguchi has played some good tennis this week, particularly an impressive in a 6-0 6-2 win over Tatsuma Ito in qualifying but Shapovalov’s level should be too high for him here.
Prediction: Shapovalov in 2
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Frances Tiafoe vs Bernabe Zapata Miralles
Head-to-head: first meeting
After an incredible breakout run US Open, Frances Tiafoe increasingly looks like a player who has taken the next step in their career. The 24-year-old defeated Rafael Nadal and played an amazing five-set match with eventual champion and world #1 Carlos Alcaraz. Just two weeks later, he would be on the opposite side of the doubles court to Roger Federer (and Nadal) in Laver Cup, defeating the legend in his final match alongside Jack Sock.
This week, Tiafoe beat wild card Yasutaka Uchiyama in straight sets in the first round. Bernabe Zapata Miralles has had a good year, establishing himself within the Top 100 of the rankings largely with results from clay Challengers and his fourth round run out of qualifying at the French Open. Outside of clay, the success has been more limited for the Spaniard, though he got a solid win over Taro Daniel in the first round here. Tiafoe should be beating Zapata Miralles here pretty convincingly.
Prediction: Tiafoe in 2
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