Citi Open 2022: Alex de Minaur vs. Yoshihito Nishioka Tennis Pick and Prediction

TennisSection previews the 2022 Citi Open as Alex De Minaur takes on Yoshihito Nishioka in the second round on Wednesday, August 2nd, 2022.

Alex De Minaur will have no room for respite after his title win in Atlanta. The fast-footed Aussie will take on Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in an intriguing second-round match at the Citi Open. Will the 11th seed survive the onslaught?

Alex De Minaur won an entertaining Atlanta Open final, beating American Jenson Brooksby in straight sets. De Minaur was the slight underdog going into that match, but the experience of playing in more finals before certainly helped his cause to deal with his nerves early on. After saving multiple break points in the first few games, he went on to take total control of the match, converting all four break points he garnered. The Aussie will now head to Washington after a couple of days’ rest and will play Brooksby’s conqueror Yoshihito Nishioka in his Citi Open bout.

Yoshihito Nishioka, meanwhile, was in action in the first round. The Japanese left-hander got the better of Jenson Brooksby, who incidentally, was De Minaur’s opponent in Atlanta Open final just 48 hours earlier. Brooksby did not have a parcitalrly great time breaking the Nishioka serve. The Japanese star always brought his A-game when under pressure and took advantage of his fatigued opponent to come out on top in straight sets.

Yoshihito Nishioka surprisingly has 2-0 lead over Alex De Minaur at Tour level. Both of those wins were on American hard courts. And Nishioka couldn’t have picked a better time to play De Minaur who might be feeling the emotional tool of winning his first title in over a year in Atlanta. And lest we forget, Nishioka has already taken out Brooksby at the Citi Open – De Minaur’s opponent in that final. I still think the extra day of rest time could come in handy for De Minaur who will always put in the work regardless of his energy levels.