Kei Nishikori outlasts Philipp Petzschner in round of 16 – Malaysian Open 2011
Japanese, Kei Nishikori fired up Thursday, 29th September, playing the 2nd round match of the Malaysian Open 2011 against German counterpart, Philipp Petzschner. The Japanese 21-year-old hammered his rival
beating him down 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, at the Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, in a long two hour and 20 minutes match to walk on to the quarter-final round of the ATP Tour 250 event.
Opening up the first game of the match, Nishikori served out and took the lead, 1-0 followed by the world No.66 levelling up next, 1-1. Serving next, the Japanese fell short and gave away the first breakpoint of the set; however,
he recovered the second instant breaking back and levelling up the scores at 2-2.
Extending his lead to 3-2 next, Nishikori reined misery upon the German rival, breaking him again and serving out the next game, 5-2. Petzschner did cut the lead to 3-5, however, that was the most the 27-year-old could do. Mesmerizing
the world No.66, Nishikori went on bagging the first set winning 6-3.
Moving on with the second set, Petzschner made a marvellous comeback. Although he dropped short in the first game as he gave away a breakpoint, the German rose up in the middle to take away the win.
With Nishikori dominating at 2-0 in the second set, Petzschner served out his first game of set 2 and switched the serve. Scorching up the scorecard with another win, 3-1, the Japanese 21-year-old kept on pressurizing the 27-year-old
before the German served-n-broke and levelled up at 3-3.
Saving a breakpoint next, the 27-year-old extended his lead to 4-3 and broke again in game 8 to lead the set 5-3. Breaking back, Nishikori did cut down the lead, however, could not go through and fell again. Breaking the world
no.54 again, Petzschner bagged the second set winning 6-4 and levelled up the match scores, 1-1.
With the two now at equal terms, Petzschner went on to serve for the decider and rolled down the scoreboard, 1-0. The Japanese followed and levelled up the scores and switched the serve, 1-1. Battling on and winning on respective
serves, the two levelled up at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and then at 5-5.
Predicted to end up in a tiebreak, Nishikori turned the tables breaking his counterpart in game 11 and serving out the long last game to win the set 7-5 and the match 2-1.
Making his way into the quarter-finals, the Japanese 21-year-old will now face the winner of the match between the top seed, Nicolas Almagro and Albert Ramos to battle it out for the semis chair.
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