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Australian Sam Groth faces a daunting task as he prepares to face fifth seed Kei Nishikori. Can he knock out one of the top players in the world or will Nishikori send him packing? Join The Roar from around 11:30pm (AEST) for live scores.
Sam Groth will be in for a massive challenge when he faces off against world No.6 Kei Nishikori.
The Australian will enter the first round matchup as the outsider and is highly unlikely to progress further in the tournament.
Since exiting the French Open in the first round at the hands of Rafael Nadal, Groth has struggled and has been dealt another cruel blow in his quest to establish himself on the ATP World Tour.
The fastest server in the world made a quarterfinals exit at the Manchester Challenger with a loss to Denis Kudla. He also made an appearance at Stuttgart where he lost to Dominic Thiem in the second round and failed to qualify for both Queen’s and Nottingham.
The key for Groth will be to make sure that he holds serve and doesn’t allow Nishikori to win a game by breaking due to the Australian’s strong service.
Kei Nishikori has solidified his place as one of the best players on tour seeded fifth following the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal.
The only male Japanese tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10, Nishikori has won seven of his last ten matches.
He has only had one start since exiting the French Open in the fourth round at the hands of Richard Gasquet with a win in the first round at Halle over Lucas Pouille 6-7, 6-1, 6-4.
It set him up for a meeting with Florian Mayer in the second round however, Nishikori withdrew from the tournament as Mayer went on to claim the title.
The pair have met once with an encounter during the quarterfinals at Washington last year.
Nishikori was victorious in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 with the world No.6 going on to win the tournament.
The winner will meet either Julien Benneteau or Illya Marchenko in the second round.
Prediction
Unfortunately for Groth his Wimbledon campaign won’t last long with the Australian to struggle against Kei Nishikori.
Nishikori in four sets.
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You can find Riley on Twitter @rileypettigrew.
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