Kei Nishikori vs Marin Cilic Tennis Prediction

Though Marin Cilic is extremely solid and consistent with his big serves, Kei Nishikori has got a lot of variety in his game and is probably the better player of these two. That said, Cilic often delivers better performances (comparatively) in the big stages and that coupled with Nishikori’s lack of fitness and match time makes the Croatian the slight favorite in this evenly poised contest.

Marin Cilic Prediction

Marin Cilic received a walkover from Milos Raonic as he advanced to the quarterfinal of Monte Carlo Masters for the third time in his career. Earlier in the week, he escaped with a straight sets win in the second round after Fernando Verdasco failed to take his chances, 6-3 7-6.
Cilic made the quarterfinal here in his recent two visits but ended up on the losing side on both occasions. The players that beat him went on to reach the final, Novak Djokovic in 2015 and Albert Ramos Vinolas in 2017.
This will be the Croatian’s third quarterfinal of the season having won the previous two against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open and Pierre Hughes Herbert in Pune.
Apart from winning the title at Istanbul (clay), Marin Cilic lost his quarterfinal match in three of the five clay tournaments that he entered in 2017 (all three in three-sets).

Kei Nishikori News

Kei Nishikori needed three sets to see off Andreas Seppi in his round of 16 match, despite winning the first set 6-0, 6-0 2-6 6-3.
This is the Japanese #1’s best result here at Monte Carlo as his only previous appearance ended in the round of 16, against Tomas Berdych in 2012.
Since returning from the wrist injury in January 2018, Kei Nishikori has made two quarterfinals and won both of them at the Dallas Challenger and New York Open.
Kei Nishikori leads the H2H 7-6, but Marin Cilic (currently ranked #3) is currently on a three-match winning run against the former World #4. Their only previous meeting on clay came at the quarterfinal of Barcelona in 2014 when Nishikori prevailed in straight sets (6-1 6-3).

Tennis Prediction: Marin Cilic
Odds: 1.80