TennisSection previews the 2022 Acapulco Open as Daniil Medvedev takes on Rafael Nadal in the semifinals on Friday, February 25th, 2022.
Will Daniil Medvedev triumph and get revenge for the final down under? Will Rafael Nadal manage to take down the number one player in the world back to back? This will be an interesting one, where we have the world’s now top player taking on the Spanish legend in an epic matchup. Who will move on to the final at the 2022 Acapulco Open?
Daniil Medvedev got a very solid win over Yoshihito Nishioka, taking him out in an easy two sets. He struggled a little bit, but for the most part it was super routine, and he was really hitting through the court beautifully. He has a very challenging one though coming up against Rafael Nadal once again. Obviously, he suffered the upset in the Australian Open final, losing a 2 set to love lead to forgo his 2nd grand slam title. Now, this match really is a tossup, I would assume Medvedev would win, as in the first 2 sets of the Australian Open final, he really was just cruising. The problem was he was mentally defeated, this scenario is much different. It was a grand slam final, and Medvedev talked about the crowd and the pressure getting to him, but here, I think he will be seeking revenge as he aims to hit back at Nadal to book a place in the 2022 Acapulco final.
Rafael Nadal got a strange win over Tommy Paul, blowing him away in the 1st set but having to fight hard in the 2nd set. Overall, he showed a very nice level in the match and throughout the tournament. Will it be enough to back up the win against Daniil Medvedev though? In Australia, he was able to mentally defeat Medvedev, forcing him to make many crucial errors while hitting some absolute rockets himself in the decisive moments. Here, I doubt he will be able to utilize his experience and absolutely godly mental fortitude. I also do expect him to struggle against Medvedev’s game here, in Australia, before Rafa mounted his comeback, we saw his backhand totally exposed, I think Medvedev will be able to easily keep up those rallies on a slow court like this, not to mention the fact that he’ll be able to get a very high percentage of returns back, let’s see if Nadal can manage to do it again, as the Spaniard certainly has just as much of a say in this one as he aims to reach a 5th final here at the 2022 Acapulco Open.
Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal have met 5 times before, with Rafael Nadal leading the head to head 4-1. They’ve had some legendary meetings, but of course, the meeting they just had down under is the most prevalent. I think the matchup does favor Medvedev, but simply due to the legendary nature of Nadal, even if the style favors him, he’ll be the favorite anyway. I think this is the way the match will go – if Medvedev will have a mental block against Nadal, there’s not much he can do, but assuming he goes all out, he’ll be the one to come out on top. It’s what we saw in Australia, but this time around its looking like the tennis he’ll be playing will be what we saw in the first half of the final, but Nadal will not go down without a fight and the new world no. 1 will have one grueling battle ahead of him as he seeks revenge to reach the final battle for the trophy at the 2022 Acapulco Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Daniil Medvedev to win in 3 sets.
Want more Free Tennis Picks from our Experts? Check out our latest Tennis Predictions now!
Join TopCourt now to learn from some of the best tennis players in the world! Find out exclusive 14-day FREE-trial here!
All betting odds/banners presented on the site are advertisements. Opinions of our experts are solely opinions. Please gamble responsibly and BeGambleAware.org.
