Kei Nishikori crashes out by Jeremy Chardy in the second round – Abierto Mexicano Telcel 2012
Japanese number one, Kei Nishikori, became the third casualty of the day at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 series event taking place on the clay courts in Acapulco, Mexico. He suffered a gruelling
6-1, 6-7(8), 0-6 defeat at the hands of the French rising star, Jeremy Chardy, on Wednesday.
The fourth seed showed dismal performance throughout the match, eventually exiting from this event with disappointment. Nishikori dumped the French at the Miami Masters 1000 event last year but after enduring this defeat, he levelled the FedEx ATP Head 2
Head series by 1-1 against the French.
Ranked 17th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Nishikori thundered into the Fairmont Acapulco Princess and drew the first blood in the opening game. After Chardy held his serve in the third game, the Japanese unleashed barrage
of powerful groundstrokes to strike out the last four games successively and sealed the opener with a breadstick.
The Japanese carried his momentum in the following set and got the critical break serve in the fourth game to go 3-1 up. Despite losing his serve in the very next game, he held his composure and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. Nishikori trailed in it and
ultimately suffered a 6-7(8) loss.
After squandering a chance to bag the match, the fourth seed ran out of steam in the final set.
Chardy on the hand went berserk and reeled off all six games in a row, subsequently pocketing a bagel.
Summing up the 22-year-old’s performance in this two hours and 22-minutes battle, Nishikori formulated a better first serve share of 65 percent as opposed to the French’s 50 percent. He also acceptably clicked 38 out of 59 points on it but coughed more errors
and double faults. The Japanese cashed in four out of 16 break chances and dusted away five out of nine breakpoints he encountered, consequently bearing this defeat.
Up next for the beaming Chardy is the Swiss tennis ace, Stanislas Wawrinka, who rallied past Spain’s Albert Ramos in three sets to occupy this spot. The Swiss amazingly dusted away 11 out of 13 breakpoints he came across and capitalised on all three break
chances to earn the limelight.
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