Bernard Tomic loses to Kei Nishikori in the opening round – London Olympics
Australian number one’s, Bernard Tomic, Olympic debut ended in disappointment, as he lost to the 15th seed, Kei Nishikori of Japan, in twin sets 6-7(4), 6-7(4) in the first round of 2012 London Games on Sunday.
The Japanese player took one hour and 30 minutes to beat Tomic in an equally contested match.
Nishikori and Tomic held their serve in the first six games to equalise the score at 3-3. The Japanese participant struck in the seventh one to move ahead 4-3 but he failed to consolidate on it, losing his following serve to even
out the proceedings at 4-4. There was no strike from either of the two players in the rest of the set, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. Nishikori made a brilliant start, as he won four of the first five points to take a 4-1 lead but Tomic
clawed his way back to reduce it to 4-5. The Japanese player, however, succeeded in winning two successive points, closing it 7-6(4).
In the second set, Nishikori and Tomic served even better than the previous one, as they did not allow each other to break serve till the end, levelling the score at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. In a similar fashion to the
opener, Tomic captured an early advantage and maintained it till the end to win 7-6(4).
Japan’s top ranked player, Nishikori, lost in the first round at the Beijing Olympics four years ago but he is determined to win a medal in London this time round.
Before the start of the event, the Japanese contender said in an interview, "It's a completely different situation from four years ago. I was 17/18 and now I have more confidence and have a better ranking. Everything's different
from the Beijing Olympics."
Nishikori added, "It's going to be on grass so it's going to be tough for me but hopefully I can get good results and get a medal. That's my goal."
The 22-year-old is aiming to win Japan’s first Olympics medal in tennis since 1920, when Ichiya Kumagai captured silver medal in singles category and partnered Seiichiro Kashio to win another one in doubles.
On the other hand, Tomic stated, "I thought I played pretty good. I didn't take my break point chances. I had four set points in the first and it would have been a different story if I had won that. He played better than me today."
Nishikori will take on either Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko or Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic in the second round.
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