Nakashima continues his recovery and defeats Paul in Vienna

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Brandon Nakashima He has upped his game since the summer and the 23-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. The world number 38 remained perfect against his compatriot Tommy Paul on Wednesday in Vienna, handing the No. 4 seed a 6-4, 6-4 defeat, marking its sixth top-20 win since August.

The Southern California native saw a steady increase throughout the season. In January, Nakashima was only 134th in the rankings, but has since improved by almost 100 points, with his early successes on the Challenger Tour eventually transferring to the ATP Tour, where he has eight top 20 victories and overall Was able to achieve 27 victories.

Nakashima battled a knee injury in 2023 and went winless at the Slams while his ranking plummeted. Now working with former world No. 42 Davide Sanguinetti, Nakashima is thriving with confidence.

With his win, he moved up to 35th in the live rankings, matching his career high.

He will face Karen Khachanov, who defeated Brazilian Thiago Seyboth-Wild 6-2, 6-4, in the second round in Vienna.

“He’s definitely a high-level player and being able to play consistently well against him gives me a lot of confidence,” he said.

Zverev and Musetti reach quarterfinals

Top seed Alexander Zverev defeated Marcos Giron 6:2, 7:5 Lorenzo Musetti received a walkover from Gael Monfils. The pair will meet in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Thomas Machac (d. Fabian Marozsan 7-6, 6-1) and Grigor Dimitrov (d. Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 7-5) also advanced in the Austrian capital on Wednesday.