Tennis: Analyzing second round singles matches from Acapulco

ATP Abierto Mexicano Telcel
Acapulco, Mexico
Second Round Singles

Rafa Nadal over Nick Kyrgios
You know, just when you think you know someone they show you how wrong you can be. The disturbed Nick Kyrgios decided to actually try in last night’s match against Andreas Seppi and showed his true athletic brilliance in a straight set victory over the tough Italian. We all know he can play. The issue is, when will he bring his game out of a psyche full of ugly skeletons. Well, he did so yesterday in front of a full house in Acapulco. Even so, Kyrgios can bring it all into his second round match against top-seeded Nadal, and he won’t leave the court smiling unless the voices in his head take over. Nadal will pick Kyrgios apart and send the Aussie home to his shrink. That’s a good thing, because he really needs some help.

Stan Wawrinka over Steve Johnson
After going 0-for-6 months, Johnson has followed up his two-win week last week in Delray Beach with another first round victory here over wild-card Gerardo Lopez Villasenor. A good draw cures all ills. But Stan Wawrinka is now waiting for the American, and Stan the Man knows that Johnson can’t hit a backhand. Not only that, the three-time Grand Slam champion also has the game to push Johnson from corner to corner, which is like death to the former two-time NCAA champion. Going from corner to corner means that Johnson will be forced into hitting backhands, and that will mean the end of his tournament. I’d be surprised if Johnson gets a set.

Sascha Zverev over David Ferrer
Late last night David Ferrer, appearing as the Ghost of Christmas Past, arose like a Phoenix from the ashes of near retirement and summoned all his old resources and took out Tennesseean Tennys Sandgren 7-6, 7-6. Down a break in the second set, the scrappy Spaniard ran down balls and hit winners, and ultimately Sandgren made two bad forehand errors, succumbing to the pressure of the second set tiebreaker. That won’t be the case here. Zverev, although young, has game, has wheels, has fortitude made of steel, and will overcome Ferrer with his shotmaking and resolve. Let us all wish Ferrer, a great tennis ambassador, good luck in his retirement, but now he’ll only be three tournaments away, as he has already announced it. We’ll see the German, currently ranked third in the world, in the quarters.

John Isner over Sam Querrey
When these two Americans play each other you can either watch with awe as each serves bombs at each other or you can fall asleep because of the lack of rallies and extended points. Interestingly, the 6’6” Querrey holds a 5-2 lifetime edge over the 9th ranked, 6’10” Isner. I say “interestingly” because I think these guys play the same game, but Isner does it better, and his ranking and record indicates the same. But in tennis, personal match-ups mean a lot, and obviously Isner doesn’t like to play someone who plays the same game he does. His recent history has confirmed that, as he lost to 6’11’ Reilly Opelka in Melbourne, 6’4” Taylor Fritz in Sydney, and Opelka again on Long Island, and that’s just since mid-January. Yet I think the ex-Georgia Bulldog will feel embarrassed from falling apart this past Saturday in the semis in Delray Beach when he was cruising against Brit Daniel Evans 6-3, 2-2, totally lost his focus and crashed and burned. If embarrassment is not enough to get Isner psyched up to finally take out Querrey, ranked 57th, I don’t know what is.