Kei Nishikori vs Ernests Gulbis Prediction & Betting Tips - Wimbledon Qualification, England

Prediction published on 08/07/2018, 11:07  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 10/07/2018 at 03:33 in Tennis Predictions

Japanese player Kei Nishikori has slipped down the rankings in recent years but has a good chance here of making it through to his first ever Wimbledon quarter final. He was as high as number 5 in the rankings three years ago but has fallen to 28 mainly caused by the five months he missed due to a wrist injury. This year has seen him reach the final of the Monte Carlo Masters where he beat Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev before losing to Rafael Nadal in the final. He has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon but has had three good wins so far this year and on Saturday beat Nick Kyrgios in straight sets to reach the last 16.

He takes on the Latvian Ernests Gublis who is a qualifer and ranked 138th in the world. This is his best performance at Wimbledon beating his run last year. In 2017 he beat Juan Martin del Potro in the second round before losing in straight sets to Novak Djokovic in round three.  It's not been a great 2018 before this tournament with his best perfornance being a semi-final on clay in Bordeaux where he eventually lost to a player ranked outside the top 200.  He's had to work hard to reach the fourth round with three consecutive five-set wins with victories over two seeded players. He defeated Damir Dzumhur (27) in the second round and then beat number four seed Alexander Zverev in the third round. He has momentum but those five-setters plus going up against an in-form player is going to make it difficult to get the win here, go for Nishikori to reach his first Wimbledon quarter-final.