Kei Nishikori sails past Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the first round – Brisbane International 2012
Fifth seed Japanese, Kei Nishikori, bounced back a set down to overpower the German professional, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, in the first round of the Brisbane International on Tuesday. Both contenders squared-off at the hard courts
in Brisbane, Australia and fought for almost two hours and 9 minutes before Nishikori triumphed over Stebe with a score of 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, to book a place in the second round of the tournament.
Japanese professional had enjoyed an emphatic 2011 ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season and came was a stunning character at the pitch, astonishing everyone with his performances against the world’s most versatile
top ranked athletes. Stebe was also fuming with confidence as he had won the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour Finals. On paper, fifth seed world number 25, Nishikori, was the favourite but everyone knew that it is not going to be an easy
draw for the Japanese.
Stebe started the proceedings with an ace and but was owned in the midst of the first game when he failed to deal with the winners down the line. Japanese won the serve break upfront and doubled his lead by holding on to
his serve. German came back strong in the fourth game and levelled the score at 2-2 by breaking his rival’s serve.
Surprisingly German broke once again and the two consecutive breaks earned him the lead of two games that lasted till the end of the first set. Japanese started off well but seemed to have run out of ideas in the midst of
the set. Aussie fans hinted an upset at their hands but Nishikori had other plans.
Resuming the proceedings in the second set, fifth seed held his serve and then broke in the fourth game to lead 3-1 in the set. Another successive break of serve helped Nishikori to double his lead and push the score to 5-1
in his favour. He served out of the last game and levelled the score at one game apiece.
Third set was again dominated at the start by the German, as he managed to take 2-0 lead upfront by breaking his rival’s serve in the second game. Japanese bounced back in the seventh game to break once again, smashing a
couple of aces in the following game to level the score at 4-4.
Stebe looked a bit worn out at that moment and couldn’t generate the same sort of power in his serves that helped the fifth seed to win yet another break. Japanese wasted no chance on capitalizing on this opportunity and
held his serve to win the match.
Kei Nishikori locks horns with Marcos Baghdatis in the second round of the tournament.
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