TennisSection previews the 2022 Miami Open as Frances Tiafoe takes on Brandon Nakashima in the second round on Friday, March 25th, 2022.
Frances Tiafoe has dispelled question mark regarding his persistent elbow injury. He is set to play Brandon Nakashima(whom he beat so routinely at Indian Wells) for the second time in as many weeks at the Miami Open. Will Big Foe have the upper hand again when he faces his compatriot?
Frances Tiafoe has been slow of the blocks since the turn of the year. But his modest record which stands at 2-4 heading to the Miami Open was greatly impacted by a debilitating elbow issue that required two months of rehabilitation. That indefinite break did not affect Tiafoe’s ranking as he is still in touch of the world’s Top 30. Initially, after leaving Australia, Tiafoe had not set a return date in mind, but announced that he was raring to go at the North American hard court swing. Tiafoe won on his return to action, beating countryman Brandon Nakashima in the first round of Indian Wells before falling to Andrey Rublev.
Brandon Nakashima will attempt to put a much better showing than the last time he faced Frances Tiafoe. Nakashima, a highly talented 21-year-old from San Diego, did not make a major impression at Indian Wells, losing 6-4 6-4 to Tiafoe in the first round. But he has managed to get his teeth into the action this week, winning his first-round match against Soonwoo Kwon at the Miami Open at a canter. Nakashima hammered 11 aces and did not face a single break point en route to a 6-1 7-5 win over South Korea’s No. 1.
Frances Tiafoe leads Brandon Nakashima 2-0 in their head-to-head. Their last meeting was played out just a week ago at Indian Wells with Tiafoe running away with the match in straight sets. Tiafoe doesn’t particularly enjoy this matchup despite owning a 100% winning record. Nakashima takes him out of the comfort zone due to his solid baseline game particularly on the backhand wing. Tiafoe is still rusty, which is not a surprise, having missed almost two months of tennis. I’ll gladly take the upset here.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Brandon Nakashima to win in 3 sets.
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