KEI NISHIKORI
Japanese number one Kei Nishikori quickly dismissed Cameron Norrie in the second round on Center Court to arrange a fifth meeting with Steve Johnson.
Nishikori was seeded eighth at Wimbledon this year and wants to reach the last 16 for the fourth time in his career after reaching the quarter-finals at last year's tournament.
Whether he knew it or not, Nishikori was in a good position to reach the quarter-finals again here before he could potentially face Roger Federer in the last eight.
STEVE JOHNSON
Steve Johnson won a tight five-set match against 25th seed Alex de Minaur to reach the third round at Wimbledon for the third time.
Johnson will face Kei Nishikori in the third round at Wimbledon with whom he has a poor 0-4 record including losing grass at Halle in 2014.
Johnson has improved his position on the grass before where he was counted after being eliminated in the first round in Stuttgart and twice coming out in the second round in a row at Halle and Eastbourne.
Preview
At the beginning of the Grand Slam you really want to make progress as calm as possible so you don't spend too much energy before a very big game arrives in the second week of the tournament. For years Kei Nishikori might have been guilty of being dragged into a more difficult match than was supposed to prevent him from challenging enough top names later in Slam, but so far this week the Japanese star was very comfortable.
Straight set wins over Thiago Monteiro and Cameron Norrie are exactly what Nishikori wanted and he hasn't really been pushed on SW19. This might make Nishikori feel a little more comfortable on the grass, considering the worst Slam result was at Wimbledon with only a single Quarter Final appearance in his name.
I have to think Nishikori was happy about his chances of advancing to the Fourth Round when he faced American Steve Johnson who had lost all four previous matches against World 7. Number 7. After going through the first round in a row, Steve Johnson needed five sets to overcome Alex De Minaur in the Second Round and it must be said that he was the lucky winner that day.
Johnson had to make use of that, but this was a difficult match for him because he had managed to hold 74% of his service games against Kei Nishikori, but the latter held 95% of his service games. It was a big difference that caused Nishikori to win the matches relatively comfortably, even though they met for the first time in more than three years.
Steve Johnson's service is still a huge weapon for him on the grass that might give him an opportunity in this regard. When the American serves well, he can be very difficult to hold, but I think it will be difficult for Johnson if he shows too much second service or is unable to win his points in the first three or four shots.
By the way Nishikori has served so far for the past few days and previous appearances against Johnson, I think he will have too much for him. I don't think the set will be uncompetitive given how well Steve Johnson can serve the best, but I am worried for America that he might be able to fall if he is a few sets behind. With the potential for fatigue to accumulate when the protests lasted for a long time, I would look for Nishikori to finally do enough to cover the amount that looked large on paper.
