Kei Nishikori sails past Andreas Seppi into quarterfinal – Davidoff Swiss Indoors 2011
Japanese Kei Nishikori triumphed over Andreas Seppi of Italy after dominating in the second set tie-breaker at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors 2011, an indoor hard court tournament from the ATP World Tour 500 series event taking place
in Basel, Switzerland. He registered a 6-3, 7-6(4) success over the 27-year-old Italian to secure a quarter-final spot on Thursday.
Ranked 32nd in the South African Airways ATP World tour rankings, Nishikori required one hour and forty-six minutes dumping the Italian, ranked eighteen levels below him, in straight sets. Meeting for the first time,
the Japanese not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Seppi but also book a quarter-final spot.
21-year-old Japanese made a nervy entry at St. Jakobshalle as he gifted away his serve in the opening game. However, he quickly counterattacked by going on a four games tear after it. Nishikori then held his serves convincingly
and clinched the opener with a 6-3 score line.
He failed to save one out of two breakpoints came across but converted both breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. In addition to this, he registered a superb 84 percent win on his slightly lower first serve share of 59 percent.
Nishikori kept momentum sailing into the final set and broke the Italian’s serve in the opening game to take the initial lead. Despite losing his serve in the very next game, the Japanese maintained consistency in his form to pocket
remaining serves and took the set to a tie-breaker. The youngster dominated in it to seal the victory with a 7-6(4) score line.
"I would like to maintain my Top 30 ranking and eventually get into the Top 20," said the highly positive Nishikori. "I am working hard on my serve and physical conditioning."
Next up for the Japanese is the lucky loser, Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin. He stomped over American qualifier James Blake, the person he lost to in the final round of qualifiers.
World number 113, Kukushkin upset the America, ranked fifty-three places above him, in straight sets in an hour and seventeen minutes.
23-year-old made quick in-roads as he quickly plucked in entire serves without facing any breakpoint. In addition to this, the Kazakh capitalised on one out of three breakpoint chances to his advantage in the second game to pocket
the set with a 6-3 win.
He carried his winning ways in the final set and got the first blood in the fifth game to dominate in the set. Regardless of exchanging a break later on, the Kazakh sealed the set by winning six games to four.
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