Kei Nishikori will take on Ivan Dodig in a crucial reverse singles rubber in the Japan versus Croatia Davis Cup tieYou can watch and bet on Nishikori v Dodig live for free at bet365 > live streaming > tennisKei Nishikori was beaten soundly by Ivo Karlovic on Friday in his singles rubber, leaving the scores tied at 1-1 between Japan and Croatia. Earlier in the day, Go Soeda had overcome Ivan Dodig in five sets to give the Japanese side a surprise lead. Following the doubles action on Saturday, Croatia now hold a 2-1 lead, so Kei Nishikori will have to beat Ivan Dodig on Sunday to keep his side in with a chance.
Explaining his defeat against Karlovic, Nishikori revealed, “I’m not used to playing that kind of player, so it wasn’t easy for me. My main weapon is groundstrokes but Ivo’s serve put me under pressure and I wasn’t able to take points off him.” Things should be a lot different when he meets Dodig, and maybe that will allow him to flourish.
Dodig seemed understandably disappointed about his loss against Soeda, but he got back to winning ways on Saturday by teaming up with Karlovic for the doubles. Croatia captain Zeljko Krajan decided to gamble and throw in his two main singles players for the matchup.
Nishikori should be considered the favourite to win this contest, especially seeing as this will be Dodig’s third day of competitive tennis in a row. That said, with the pressure on both players to produce a vital win, anything could happen at the Bourbon Beans Dome on Sunday.
