Roman Safiullin and Kei Nishikori will clash against each other in the semifinal of the Bratislava 2 Challenger for the 1^st time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Saturday at 2:00 pm on CENTER COURT. In the following paragraphs, you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Roman Safiullin who should win in 3 sets.

As per the initial odds, Roman Safiullin is the pick to win this match.
Roman Safiullin -> 1.68
Kei Nishikori -> 2.08

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Prediction and head to head Roman Safiullin vs. Kei Nishikori

There is no head to head record between Roman Safiullin and Kei Nishikori since this will be the first time that they will play each other in the main tour.

Roman Safiullin

Ranked no. 59, the Russian reached the semifinal after beating Milos Karol 7-6(7) 7-6(5), Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-4 6-3 and Aslan Karatsev 6-3 6-2.

In the quarter, The Russian had a good straight sets win against Karatsev (6-3 6-2). During the match, Safiullin scored 60 points vs Karatsev’s 36. Safiullin was very aggressive to blast 30 winners.

Regarding the service games, Safiullin bagged 13 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Roman Safiullin was exceptionally efficient on serve to win 86% (30/35) of his 1st serve and 59% (10/17) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Safiullin broke Karatsev 3 times after converting 60% of his break points (3/5).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Safiullin hasn’t surrendered yet a set in this competition to win 56% of the points he played.

Safiullin has a solid record in the last 10 years having won 63% of his matches (348-202). 3-2 on indoor hard courts in 2024. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this competition, Safiullin has an aggregate 74-47 record in the last years on indoor hard courts.

His best result of the current year was conquering the title the Cary Challenger where he defeated Mattia Bellucci in the final 1-6 7-5 7-5.

The Russian has an aggregate 28-27 win-loss record in 2024, 3-2 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Bratislava 2 Challenger

Kei Nishikori

Ranked no. 140, Nishikori got to the semifinal after beating Marton Fucsovics 6-2 1-6 6-1, Lukas Klein 6-3 6-7(3) 6-1 and Constant Lestienne 6-3 5-7 6-2.

In the quarter, Kei defeated Lestienne (6-3 5-7 6-2). During the match Nishikori scored 108 points vs Lestienne’s 94. Nishikori was extremely aggressive to blast 54 winners.

Talking about serving, Nishikori scored 5 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Kei Nishikori lost the serve 5 times and he saved 7 break points. Furthermore, Nishikori put 77% of his first serves in, winning 63% (54/86) of the points behind his 1st serve and 40% (10/25) on the 2nd serve. Kei broke Lestienne 7 times after converting 64% of his break points (7/11).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Japanese has conceded 3 set in the tournament to win 54% of the points he played.

Nishikori has a compiled 15-10 win-loss record in 2024, 3-1 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Safiullin	Nishikori
Match played	3	3
Tot Set	6	9
Tot Games	62	80
Pts	201-160	282-237
Total Points	361	519
Winners	111	133
%Winners	55%	47%

Both Safiullin and Nishikori played 3 matches. At the moment, Kei Nishikori dropped 3 sets while Roman Safiullin hasn’t dropped a set so far. Safiullin has played 3 set(s) less than Nishikori (6 vs 9). Therefore, Safiullin played 18 games less than Nishikori. Roman scored 111 winners (55% of the total points). On the other side, The Japanese scored 133 winners (47%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Safiullin	Nishikori
Aces	24	6
Avg per match	8	2
1st in	130/193	200/277
%1st in	67%	72%
1st pts	111/130	133/200
%1st pts	85%	67%
2nd pts	35/63	45/77
%2nd pts	56%	58%

Safiullin bagged 24 aces (8 per match). Nishikori managed to score 6 aces (2 per match). Safiullin won 85% points behind his first serve. He very solid his second serve to win 56% of the points. On the other side, Nishikori won 67% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 58% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Safiullin	Nishikori
Won	5	14
Converted	5/9	14/24
% Converted	56%	58%
Conceded	3	22
Saved	3	15
% Saved	100%	68%
Times Broken	0	7

The Russian broke his opponents 5 times with a 56% conversion rate. Roman pretty solid on his serve as he has never conceded a single service game after saving 3 break points. The Japanese broke his opponents 14 times with a 58% conversion rate. Nishikori conceded his serve 7 times and he saved 68% of the break points that he conceded.

Safiullin
	R1 Karol	R2 Huesler	1/4 Karatsev	Total
Score	7-67 7-65	6-4 6-3	6-3 6-2
Tot Set	2	2	2	6
Tot Games	26	19	17	62
pts	81-74	60-50	60-36	201-160
Total points	155	110	96	361
Winners	43	38	30	111
%Winners	53%	63%	50%	55%
SERVE
Aces	1	10	13	24
Double Faults	1	2	3	6
1st in	52/78	43/63	35/52	130/193
% 1st in	67%	68%	67%	67%
1st pts	43/52	38/43	30/35	111/130
% 1st pts	83%	88%	86%	85%
2nd pts	17/26	8/20	10/17	35/63
% 2nd pts	65%	40%	59%	56%
Breaks
Won	0	2	3	5
Converted	0/2	2/2	3/5	5/9
Converted %	0%	100%	60%	56%
Conceded	1	2	0	3
Saved	1/1	2/2	0/0	3
Saved %	100%	100%	–	67%
Times Broken	0	0	0	0

Nishikori
	R1 Fucsovics	R2 Klein	1/4 Lestienne	Total
Score	6-2 1-6 6-1	6-3 6-73 6-1	6-3 5-7 6-2
Tot Set	3	3	3	9
Tot Games	22	29	29	80
pts	73-61	101-82	108-94	282-237
Total points	134	183	202	519
Winners	34	45	54	133
%Winners	47%	45%	50%	47%
SERVE
Aces	0	1	5	6
Double Faults	0	0	4	4
1st in	48/64	66/102	86/111	200/277
% 1st in	75%	65%	77%	72%
1st pts	34/48	45/66	54/86	133/200
% 1st pts	71%	68%	63%	67%
2nd pts	10/16	25/36	10/25	45/77
% 2nd pts	63%	69%	40%	58%
Breaks
Won	4	3	7	14
Converted	4/7	3/6	7/11	14/24
Converted %	57%	50%	64%	58%
Conceded	6	4	12	22
Saved	4/6	4/4	7/12	15
Saved %	67%	100%	58%	75%
Times Broken	2	0	5	7

Tennis Scores in Bratislava 2 Challenger

• Roman SafiullinSafiullin – Aslan KaratsevKaratsev (6-3 6-2) – See score progression
• Dino PrizmicPrizmic – Jacob FearnleyFearnley (3-6 6-4 6-3) – See score progression
• Raphael CollignonCollignon – Gabriel DialloDiallo (3-6 7-6³ 7-5) – See score progression
• Kei NishikoriNishikori – Constant LestienneLestienne (6-3 5-7 6-2) – See score progression
• Andre Goransson/Sem VerbeekGoransson/Sem Verbeek – Constantin Frantzen/Hendrik JebensFrantzen/Hendrik Jebens (7-5 7-6²) – See score progression
• Nicolas Barrientos/Julian CashBarrientos/Julian Cash – Jakob Schnaitter/Mark WallnerSchnaitter/Mark Wallner (7-6¹⁰ 6-1) – See score progression
• Raphael CollignonCollignon – Gabriel DialloDiallo (3-6 7-6(3) 7-5) – See score progression

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Roman SafiullinSafiullin – Kei NishikoriNishikori (0-0) – H2H and prediction