Alex de Minaur vs Brandon Nakashima Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Demon to win tight Washington quarter-final

De Minaur is building nicely in the American capital this week, earning two tough wins over Bu Yunchaokete and Jiri Lehecka, following on nicely from a run to the R16 of Wimbledon. The Aussie has a great opportunity to reclaim a spot inside the top 10 over the coming weeks, with zero points to defend in the next two Masters 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati after missing this stage of the year last season with a hip injury. Nakashima meanwhile is aiming to add to his one and only ATP title, which he secured all the way back at the now-defunct San Diego tournament in 2022.

Nakashima is a very dangerous player on quick North American hardcourts and has a deceptively huge serve, which can be extremely difficult to break. De Minaur was involved in two tiebreaks in his previous win over Lehecka and some more wouldn't surprise me here. It's looming as a close contest, but giving the edge to Demon.

Nakashima leads 1-0, but that match came all the way back in 2021 and De Minaur was under an injury cloud as the American registered a 6-4 6-0 win.

De Minaur comes into this encounter with a 32-13 record on the season and hoping to produce some of his best tennis over the coming months in a bid to qualify for the ATP Finals for the second straight year.

The Aussie was largely playing on one leg at the back end of 2024, which makes his US Open quarter-final appearance and ATP Finals qualification even more impressive.

De Minaur has found the going tough at various stage this season, speaking of both physical and mental burnout, but he's still achieved some great results - namely making the Australian Open quarter-finals and Monte Carlo Masters semis, along with a runner-up finish in Rotterdam and R16 showing at Wimbledon, where he really should have pushed Novak Djokovic to a fifth set.

The 26-year-old is a former finalist in Washington and he's edged out two solid players to return to the quarter-finals this week, beating Bu Yunchaokete 6-2 7-5 before toppling the dangerous Jiri Lehecka 7-6 6-7 6-4, recovering from blowing two match points in the second set tiebreak.

Nakashima heads into this contest with a 23-18 record on the season and three spots off his career-high ranking of No. 29, which was achieved in May this year.

The American has won back-to-back matches at his last four consecutive tournaments, reaching quarter-finals in Stuttgart and Queen's Club, along with the third round of Wimbledon and now the last eight in Washington.

Nakashima was also a semi-finalist in Acapulco and Houston earlier this season, along with making the R16 in Madrid. As you can see, he's a very consistent player, but taking that next step has so far proven difficult.

Indeed, the 23-year-old hasn't registered a completed win over a top 30 player so far this season, but again he's done what's expected of him in Washington, defeating Ethan Quinn 6-3 6-4 before a 7-6 6-3 triumph over Cameron Norrie.