Kei Nishikori defeats Franco Skugor to advance to the second round of U.S Men’s Clay Court Championships
Japanese tennis pro, Kei Nishikori outplayed Croatian Franco Skugor in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in first round of the 2011 U.S Men’s Clay Court Championships, winning the match in under one hour and fourteen minutes.
Both opponents showed an outstanding display of tennis but the 21-year-old, Japanese, excelled and scored the contest in straight sets.
World number 61 Nishikori has so far won 10 out of his last 17 matches in the season. Earlier this season, he lost in the quarterfinals at Chennai, India. He also departed from the third round of the Australian Open
where he lost to Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco. His best performance in the season came at Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, where he moved into the semifinals defeating Brian Dabul and James Blake in the first two rounds, before losing to Serbian
Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets.
Ranked 149th in the world, Skugor, on the other hand, has won 16 out of his 26 matches. He has not won any title so far in the season, but he succeeded to reach the semifinals of San Jose, Costa Rica and
Casablanca, where he was defeated by the Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili and Italian Alessio Di Mauro in straight sets.
Skugor played superbly in the first set as he saved75 per cent break points and scored 73 percent of points on his 58 percent first serve. Nishikori on the other hand, was also in great form he scored a single ace,
52 per cent first serves and gained 71 percent points on them. The Japanese couldn’t face a single break point opportunity though he won 74 percent service points in total and sewed up the set with a 6-3 score line.
In the second set, Skugor looked very tired and double faulted twice for his opponent to take the lead again. He delivered 63 per cent of first serves and won 67 per cent of points on them. 21-year-old Nishikori saved
100 per cent break point opportunities. The Japanese pro scored 71 per cent points on his 71 per cent first serves. Furthermore, he gained 59 per cent points in total a lot higher than his opponent and walked away with a 6-2 set score.
The most important factor of Nishikori’s success was the fact that, he remained focused and determined throughout the match, though he double faulted and stumbled in some areas of the game but still he overcame his
weaknesses and walked away with success into the next round where he will meet Igor Andreev of Russia.
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