Seventh seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland will face the unseeded Kei Nishikori of Japan in the Second Round of the 2021 Rogers Cup. The match is scheduled to be played on Wednesday August 11th, 2021 at approximately 4:00pm EST.
An interesting Second Round clash is upon us here at the 2021 Rogers Cup as Hubert Hurkacz will face the veteran Kei Nishikori for a spot in the Round of 16. Both men have been having solid seasons so far in 2021, and will be looking to build some momentum before the start of the US Open in a few weeks. Hurkacz is seeking his second Masters-1000 title of the year, while Nishikori is trying to win his first title in over three years. Who will get the win and advance here?
Hubert Hurkacz is seeded seventh here at the Rogers Cup and is currently ranked at a career-high #13 in the world rankings. The Polish star has established himself as one of the top players in the world this season, winning his maiden ATP-1000 event in Miami and reaching his first Grand Slam Semi-Final at Wimbledon. While he has been very successful, he has been quite inconsistent, as evidenced by his First Round exit at the Olympics. He will be looking to find some form before an assault on the US Open, and his game style is perfectly suited to these hard courts, with a huge serve and groundstrokes. While he is the favorite here against the Japanese star Kei Nishikori, he knows that his opponent is highly experienced and is a former top 5 player, and should not be underestimated.
Kei Nishikori is unseeded here at the Rogers Cup, and has finally started to regain some form after a difficult past few years. After being a staple in the top 10 for many years, he has struggled in recent times, and was all but written off. However he has been having a solid but unspectacular season so far, with a strong showing at the Olympics and a Semi-Final run last week in Washington. He is the underdog here, but his counter-punching style should cause problems to his big-hitting opponent Hubert Hurkacz, who can be quite erratic at times. If Nishikori plays well and is solid, there is definite upset potential here.
This is the third time that the two players are meeting on the ATP Tour, with Hurkacz winning on both occasions. However, they were both two years ago and both extremely close, so it is hard to gauge much. Despite never having beaten his opponent, I expect Kei Nishikori to grind out a tough win here. Those two losses came during his slump two years ago, and the experienced Japanese is too experienced and too talented to not break the streak sometime. He is better form than his opponent, and once he returns well I think he has what it takes to cause the minor upset here. It will likely go the distance, but I’m backing Nishikori to advance here.