Juan Monaco tears down Kei Nishikori in 3rd round – Winston-Salem Open 2011
Juggling through the ATP Tour 250 tournament, Juan Monaco fired up to play against his 3rd round challenger, Kei Nishikori, at Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, USA. The Argentine, Monaco, took less than 71 minutes
to make it through the 3rd round of the Winston-Salem Open and into the quarter-finals.
Playing Nishikori for the second time, Monaco avenged his loss for the 2008 US Open, when the Japanese bulldozed the Argentine world No.36 in the opening round.
Comparatively both the players had been practicing on the fast track. Apparently, Nishikori had a better chance to win the game; however, the former world No.14 crushed the Japanese at every point.
Monaco, aged 27, has been up as a pro since 2002. The Tandil born right-hander has been perfect playing at clay court-circuit but proved to be equally oriented on hard fast courts as well. Monaco has entitled to 3 major wins in
his career and is looking strong to capture the fourth as well.
Nishikori, on the contrary, is a young 21-year-old tennis star who has certainly made it into the spotlight. Ranked at world No.48 at this age, he is certainly believed to work further up in the ranking and may be cross the best
ones.
Starting off at the age of 17, the Japanese superstar has already named a title to his name and was looking forward to add another one to his counting, however, was outgunned by the Argentine sensation.
Starting off with the match, Monaco served first to open up the starter and won, 1-0. The Argentine is well known for his aggressiveness and agility on the court. Using his two super strengths, Monaco engraved a bagel on the scoreboards
as he broke the Japanese 3 times in a single set.
Winning 6 games straight, Monaco annihilated the young 21-year-old with a 6-0 win in the first set and moved on with the second.
Serving first again, Monaco blistered the first game of the set and switched the serve. Levelling up the scores in the next game, Nishikori won game 2 with the 27-year-old to serve next.
The Argentine won game 3 and broke the Japanese in the 4th to take the lead, however, the 21-year-old struck back winning game 5 and breaking back the Argentine in the next to level up the scores, 3-3. The set seemed
leading to a tiebreaker, however, Monaco turned the tables.
With scores now at 4-3, Monaco broke Nishikori againt to extend his lead to 5-3 before he went off finishing the set 6-3 and the match bagel, 6-3.
Astonishing the Japanese in straight sets, Monaco cleared his 3rd round fixture of Winston-Salem Open to chair the quarter-final round. The Argentine now faces the top seed, Andy Roddick, to fight for the seat in the
semis.
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