Kei Nishikori overcomes Mikhail Kukushkin to reach round of 16 – Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2012
Eighth seed, Kei Nishikori of Japan, bounced back in style after losing the second set to beat Kazakh, Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 in the second round at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in Spain on Wednesday.
The Japanese needed two hours and 16 minutes to post the win over his opponent.
Nishikori and the Kazakh did not lose their serve in the first seven games of the match, taking the score to 4-3 in favour of the Japanese. Nishikori claimed first breakthrough of the contest in the eighth game and consolidated on it to triumph 6-3.
The Japanese further strengthened his position by striking in the third game of the second set but Kukushkin did not take much time to come on equal terms, levelling the score at 2-2. The Kazakh hit another blow in the 10th game and closed it 6-4.
After losing a close second set, Nishikori raised the level of his game in the third and looked a completely different player. The Japanese did not drop even a single game, breaking the Kazakh three times to win it 6-0.
The right-hander fired three aces and 71 percent of the first serves, converting 38 of the 63 of them into points in the match. On the other hand, Kukushkin bombarded six aces but he also committed three double faults, putting in just 62 percent of the first
deliveries. The Kazakh grabbed just 10 of the 26 second return points compared to 21 of the 38 by Nishikori.
Nishikori said, after the match, "It was an awful match. It was very windy and we both made so many errors. After three or four balls, someone would make a mistake. It was my first match and I was a bit tight, he had already played a match. I really had to
concentrate a lot but I have to handle the conditions better. It was OK to win but it was a tough day for me."
The Japanese is pitted against 17th seed, Albert Ramos of Spain, in the round of 16. The Spaniard outplayed world number 96, Benoit Paire of France, in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 in the second round.
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