The action continues in Brisbane with the semi-finals taking place this Saturday. Bookmakers Review breaks down the fixture below and lists the best available odds from green listed bookmakers.
Nishikori vs. Wawrinka
The two highest ranked players in the bottom half of the draw – Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka – will fight this Saturday for a place in the decisive match.
After eight consecutive appearances in Chennai, Wawrinka couldn’t ask for a better debut in Brisbane. The three-time Grand Slam champion is already in the semi-finals after a huge battle against Kyle Edmund. Despite losing the opening set, Stan kept a very positive attitude, defeating the British by 6 – 7 6 – 4 6 – 4. After the match Wawrinka was extremely pleased with his win, especially the way he fought back and found solutions after dropping the first set.
This is already Nishikori’s 4th career appearance in the Brisbane International semi-finals; however, the Japanese never made it to the final. The conditions in Brisbane suit Kei’s game style with the Japanese reaching this stage of the competition after a superb performance against the Australian Wild Card, Jordan Thompson. Looking now to Nishikori’s numbers throughout this event, the highlight clearly goes to his return to serve with the world no.5 allowing only 52.40% service hold to his opponents.
These two players are no strangers with Wawrinka winning four of their previous seven meetings.
Despite Stan’s lead on the h2h, Nishikori won three of their last five meetings. Adding to this, Stan only defeated the Japanese on Grand Slam events where he usually produces his best tennis. On the other hand, Kei clearly holds the edge when playing best of three sets matches in recent years. Having said that, Nishikori is the right bet on this match at 71/100 at Pinnacle while Bet365 offers 6/5 for Wawrinka’s victory.
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