We have an interesting, all-American, clash in the first round of the ATP Tokyo, where recent US Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe takes on in-form Brandon Nakashima.
Seventh seed Tiafoe has really found form as of late after a successful Grand Slam in New York and some impressive performances in the recent Laver Cup, where he beat Medvedev. His record for the season is 30-21 but that is mostly due to a really slow start to the season.
Big Foe is also a previous finalist in this tournament and reached the quarterfinals in the 2023 Japan Open.
Another player in decent form is his opponent on Thursday, Brandon Nakashima, even though the consistency is not really there yet. On his breakthrough year on the ATP tour, his best result came in Stuttgart where he reached the last four, but lost the semi to Jack Draper.
Like Tiafoe, he looked his best since the hard-court season in US started and he reached the fourth round in the US Open.
H2H
This is some important stats as we can see a 4-0 lead (on the ATP tour) for Tiafoe in this regard. Actually it’s 5-0 if you count the win in 2020 at the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas.
Note also, that all these wins has come on hard-court and it’s hard to look away from these stats when making predictions.
Betting Odds for Tiafoe vs Nakashima
Looking at the odds, 15th ranked Frances Tiafoe is a small favorite with the quite valuable odds 1.75 or -137.5, while a win for Nakashima gives 2.15 or +115.
A 2-1 set betting win for Tiafoe gives 3.75 or +275 or at most sportsbooks.
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Predictions
Will Tiafoe show full commitment here in Tokyo? That is the only concern, otherwise he surely has what it takes to beat Nakashima once again, and the odds are really decent. Big Foe has 20-11 on hard court this season and his game has improved by a lot in the last weeks.
Nikashima is out for revenge, but he might not have reached the level of Tiafoe yet.
Prediction: Frances Tiafoe to win in three sets.
