Kei Nishikori over runs Alexandr Dolgopolov to reach semis – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
World number 47, Kei Nishikori of Japan, extended his dream run at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, defeating the world number 18, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, in the quarter-final clash on Friday.
The highly anticipated contest was staged on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, with the unseeded Japanese producing a surprise result to oust Dolgopolov. Nishikori took one hour and twenty seven minutes of
play to wrap up a convincing victory in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to make a berth in his first ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event.
21-year-old Nishikori has already defeated the world number eight, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, in his early round matches and has forced his way to the final four of the tournament in an assertive fashion. The Japanese played far better than his rankings
suggest and absolutely manhandled the world number 18 throughout the contest with his exceptional power hitting on Friday evening.
“I feel like home here,” said Nishikori, who was the Houston runner-up in April. “It means a lot to play semis here. I’m really excited now. I think I started well today. I knew he [was] going to hit a lot of slice and I have to be careful. I was trying
to not go for too much, just try to [be] steady on the court, and that worked.”
The 12th seeded Ukrainian is known to be the most improved player on the ATP World Tour this season but he utterly failed to put up any serious effort in the Friday’s matchup against the Japanese. Dolgopolov missed out six break opportunities
in the matchup, converting merely one in reply to Nishikori’s four cracking ones.
The unseeded Japanese nailed his first serve break of the day in the fifth game of the match and it gave him enough momentum to seal the first set at 6-4. A more competitive second set was played with Dolgopolov toiling extremely hard to stay alive in the
competition but three crushing break point conversions from the Japanese outplayed him in the end.
A harder challenge waits Nishikori in the round of four, as he takes on the world number four, Andy Murray of the Great Britain, for a battle for the final. Murray had no trouble in disposing of the Australian qualifier, Matthew Ebden, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarter-final
round to book a match against Nishikori in the semis of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
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