Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic will face off in the 1st round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships for the 16th time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Thursday at 6:00 pm on COLOSSEUM. In the following lines you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Kei Nishikori who should win in 3 sets.
Kei Nishikori -> 1.56
Marin Cilic -> 2.43
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Prediction and head to head Kei Nishikori vs. Marin Cilic
This will be the 16th time that Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic square off. The head to head is 9-6 for Nishikori (see full H2H stats), 6-3 on hard.
The last time that they fought against each other, Nishikori won 2-6 6-4 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4 in the quarter in at the U.S. Open back in 2018.
Kei Nishikori
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15-12 | 11-7 | 3-3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 20-11 | 7-5 | 5-3 | 8-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 10-3 | 10-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 26-17 | 15-9 | 7-4 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 200, Nishikori will start his run in Tokyo after he played his last match in Chengdu where he lost 6-4 6-4 to Shang in the 1st round on the 19th of September.
The Japanese has an overall 9-7 win-loss record in 2024, 4-3 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Talking about his overall career, The Japanese has an overall 579-270 record. He has a positive 289-136 record on hard.
Previously in Tokyo
Previously, he won this tournament twice in 2012 and 2014. See his history.
Marin Cilic
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 29-20 | 3-6 | 11-9 | 6-3 | 9-2 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 9-11 | 8-6 | 0-1 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 1-1 | 1-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 32-21 | 16-10 | 9-5 | 4-5 | 3-1 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 33-23 | 6-9 | 5-5 | 13-7 | 9-2 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 373, will start his run in Tokyo after he won the title in Hangzhou after beating 7-6(5) 7-6(5) Zhang in the final.
Cilic has an overall 8-6 win-loss record in 2024, 8-4 on hard (See FULL STATS)
.His best result of the season was winning the title in Hangzhou where he defeated Zhizhen Zhang in the final 7-6(5) 7-6(5).
Marin won his last 5 matches.
In terms of his career, The Croatian has an overall 696-377 record. He has a positive 256-147 record on hard.
Tennis Scores in Tokyo
- Matteo BerrettiniBerrettini – Botic Van De ZandschulpVan De Zandschulp (6-3 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Mariano NavoneNavone – Luciano DarderiDarderi (6-4 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Hubert HurkaczHurkacz – Marcos GironGiron (6-4 6-75 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Ugo HumbertHumbert – Shintaro MochizukiMochizuki (6-1 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Marin CilicCilic – Kei NishikoriNishikori (6-9) – H2H and prediction
- Reilly OpelkaOpelka – (0-1) – H2H and prediction
- Taylor Harry FritzHarry Fritz – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Tommy PaulPaul – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Frances TiafoeTiafoe – Brandon NakashimaNakashima (5-0) – H2H and prediction
- Alejandro TabiloTabilo – Holger Vitus Nodskov RuneVitus Nodskov Rune (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Casper RuudRuud – Jordan ThompsonThompson (3-3) – H2H and prediction
- Alexei PopyrinPopyrin – Tomas MachacMachac (2-1) – H2H and prediction
- Tomas Martin EtcheverryMartin Etcheverry – Christopher O ConnellO Connell (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Felix Auger AliassimeAuger Aliassime – Yoshihito NishiokaNishioka (4-3) – H2H and prediction
- Jack DraperDraper – (0-0) – H2H and prediction