Kei Nishikori overwhelms Santiago Giraldo in the third round – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
The dream run for the 21-year-old Japanese, Kei Nishikori, continues at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, as he outplayed the world number 48, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, in the third round clash on Thursday afternoon.
The unseeded Japanese toiled hard for two hours and thirty eight minutes of play to wrap up the contest in three sets, 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3, driving the Colombian opponent out of the tournament in a convincing fashion.
The contest was staged on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, with the 47th ranked Nishikori registering a hard-fought victory to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
Masters Series event.
Giraldo gave some real tough time to his Japanese opponent in the early parts of the game but gradually lost his steam later to let Nishikori back in business. The Colombian lost the opening set tie breaker after a stiff contest but clinched the second one
to bring the Japanese back on even terms. Nishikori upped his game in the final set and demolished Giraldo to race away to victory in style.
Action took off right from the very first game of the match, with Nishikori breaking his opponent early. Giraldo replied with the same and then a regular game was followed to take the scores to 6-6, imposing a tie breaker round into play. The Colombian fought
valiantly in the decider but a power forehand winner from Nishikori marked an end to the first set at 7-6(6) in his favour.
Giraldo got his rhythm in the next set and nailed two crucial serve breaks in the first and then seventh game to seal the second set to his name at 6-4. Both men then stepped in to the final set of the match with one set apiece but it was Nishikori who made
the first move to break the Colombian serve in the fourth game to lead 4-1. Giraldo failed to recover from the damage done by the early break point conversion and eventually submitted the third set to Nishikori at 3-6.
Nishikori will take on the 12 seeded Ukrainian, Alexandr Dolgopolov, in the quarter-final ballet to fight for a spot in the final four. The world number 18 registered a crushing, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0, win over the Australian competitor, Bernard Tomic, in the third
round to book a date with Nishikori in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
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