Casper Ruud vs Yoshihito Nishioka: 2023 Shanghai Masters - Preview & Prediction

05/10/2023 17:10 | by Evita Mueller

Casper Ruud had some solid moments in the China Open last week, and he hopes to bring that to the Shanghai Masters against Yoshihito Nishioka.

Ruud hasn't played a very good season so far, certainly not when you compare it to last year, but he showed some promise lately. A solid effort in the Laver Cup was followed by a few good outings last week in the China Open. The hope is that he keeps building upon that momentum, though the second-round challenge will be tough.

Nishioka is a very up-and-down player but played pretty okay lately, which isn't a surprise. He's in Asia on courts he's familiar with, so that will certainly help him. The conditions here certainly play more into the hands of Nishioka, but Ruud is the far more complete player.

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Thursday, 05 October 2023

Head-to-head:

They played twice so far on the ATP Tour and it demonstrates quite well how the matchup generally goes. Ruud won easily on clay in Madrid two years ago, but Nishioka won last year in Korea. The latter was a close match, and I expect something like that again.

Ruud is favoured and more likely to win, but a win by Nishioka wouldn't be a huge surprise, especially if he plays the way he can play.

Prediction:

Another thing that Nishioka has in his favour is actually having played a match in Shanghai. This event is returning for the first time since the pandemic, so a lot of players aren't really used to playing here. Ruud is one of them, and Nishioka having one match under his belt favours him greatly.

Will that be enough to win? I'm not sure because I do think Ruud will find a way. Last year's loss to Nishioka came when the Japanese player played his best tennis, and he's not doing that. I could see him win a set, but winning the match seems unlikely.

Prediction: Casper Ruud to win in three sets.

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