David Ferrer ousts Kei Nishikori in opening round – Rakuten Open 2011
Spaniard David Ferrer, world number five went on head-to-head against the Japanese world No.47, Kei Nishikori in the first round match of the 2011 Rakuten Open. Clearing up the blue hard court at Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan,
today, Tuesday, 4th October, the two rivals went on to battle it out for an hour and 29 minutes before the Spaniard smothered the 21-year-old winning 6-4, 6-3 and off for the 2nd round.
The two, last met at the 2008 US Open in New York, USA hard court, when Nishikori held up high beating the top ranker in the round of 32. However, the Spaniard took his revenge knocking out the Japanese young gun out of the ATP
Tour 500 event 1st round and onto the second.
Walking down the court the two got a standing ovation and followed on with the start. Winning the toss, Ferrer, world No.5, opened up the first game of the set and realized that Nishikori was still a tough shot. Breaking the Spaniard,
the Japanese took the lead serving out his first serve, game 2, and switched the serve, 2-0.
Ferrer struggling to make an impact, once again dropped short as Nishikori went ballistic winning all of the first 3 games, 3-0. Winning game 4 the 21-year-old was then outclasses by the mesmerizing Spaniard. With a sudden Serve-break-serve
tactic Ferrer took the lead with Nishikori to serve next, 4-3.
Levelling up the scores for the second time in the fixture, 4-4, the Spaniard got his chance to end up the first set in his pocket. Serving out game 9, Ferrer broke the world No.47 and bagged the first set winning 6-4.
With one more set required for his 1st round win, Ferrer opened up and served out the first game of set 2, 1-0. Following up with a win, the Japanese levelled up and switched the serve, 1-1. With the two winning a game
each, both equalled up at 2-2 before the Spaniard exploded.
Serving out game 5, the world No.5 broke-n-served capturing the next 2 games to lead the set 5-2. Cutting down the lead to 3-5, Nishikori attempted to break the higher ranked Spaniard, however, could not do so and finally Ferrer,
serving out game 9, won the second set, 6-3, and the match in straight sets to qualify into the next round.
Ferrer, succeeding in the 1st round, now moves into the 2nd stage of the 2011 Rakuten Open to play the Australian, Matthew Ebden for the quarter-final seat.
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