The Miami Open tennis tournament from Crandon Park Tennis Center continues with two more of the quarterfinals and so do our tennis picks. Yesterday was an even day for us as we went 1-1 with our tennis picks. We had Novak Djokovic as a big chalk in his match with Tomas Berdych and at a price of -1000, that’s not a matchup we wanted to lose. However, Djokovic didn’t really have much of a sweat in that one as Berdych proved to be an easy test for him. Djokovic ended up taking the match 6-3, 6-3. In the second matchup, we had Gilles Simon as a small underdog against David Goffin, but Simon was unable to come through for us. He won the first set 6-3 but ended up winning just three more games the rest of the way as Goffin rolled rather easily. Here are our tennis picks for Thursday:
Nick Kyrgios vs. Milos Raonic
Betting Odds: Raonic -172
This is a match which won’t have a lot of subtlety in it. These are two huge servers who base everything else they do around the simple fact that they love to crush serves and collect a lot of easy service holds. If these guys are holding serve easily, they feel they can be a lot more aggressive in their return games and go for shots, hitting hard but using just enough margin to put pressure on opponents. Both players are pretty good at doing this, but Raonic is a little steadier and more proven at doing this. That’s one way in which the two are separated. The other thing which drives a bit of a line of differentiation between Raonic and Kyrgios is that Raonic seems to have developed more shots and skills over the offseason. He runs faster and covers the court a little more smoothly. He has an inside-out forehand dropshot which has been very effective in getting opponents off balance. Raonic has made some intentional moves to build up the non-serve, non-forehand parts of his game. If these improvements can continue to be worked on and developed, Raonic could be a bigger star than many are currently expecting.
Kyrgios could easily win this match, probably in two tiebreakers. Raonic could also have a bad game in each set as the server, and that could enable Kyrgios to win a match, 6-4, 6-4. These are very realistic scenarios. Yet, Raonic beat Kyrgios in Wimbledon of 2014. He has a more developed game and a little more of a Plan B than Kyrgios does. This will be a close match, but Raonic deserves the benefit of the doubt at this point.
Pick: Raonic in straight sets
Kei Nishikori vs. Gael Monfils
Betting Odds: Nishikori -270
This is a very tough match to pick, in that Nishikori has done more in men’s tennis over the past three years, getting to the U.S. Open final and the top eight. The top-ranked Japanese player offered the suggestion at times over the past three seasons that he could muscle his way into the Big Four and become a regular contender at the Grand Slam events. This hasn’t quite happened, and yet Nishikori is still in the top 10, having a career most players would desperately love to have. Nishikori isn’t an overwhelming player, but he is tough. He’s a mixture of dependability and vulnerability, and that can be hard to gauge in a case such as this.
Gael Monfils isn’t ordinarily steady the way Nishikori is, but he’s taken care of business multiple times at this tournament. Monfils winning matches with no fuss is a step forward for him, and it’s precisely what could carry Monfils through this big challenge in the quarterfinals.
This match could go either way, but Nishikori is a more proven player in terms of surviving a match and being on an even keel the whole way. Monfils could easily win, but Nishikori seems to have regained self-confidence after he lost to a wobbly Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells. Take Nishikori in three.
Pick: Nishikori in three sets
Want to give your comments about this article? You can either leave them here or you can join us on the Get More Sports Forum and talk about this article and many more! Brag about your favorite team, argue about an athlete’s performance or tell us about a game you saw. Join a new community of sports fans who live and breathe sports and sports entertainment. It’s free! Join now!
