Kei Nishikori stuns Tomas Berdych to enter semis – Rakuten Open 2012
Local number one, Kei Nishikori, stomped over the second seed, Tomas Berdych, in straight sets at the Rakuten Open 2012 on Friday. He nudged up a 7-5, 6-4 victory against the Czech top ranked star to book a spot in the final four at this ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 Series event held in Tokyo, Japan.
The crowd favourite showed top class performance to oust Berdych in their fourth battle against each other. After stealing the show in just under two hours, Nishikori not only avenged his loss at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters earlier this circuit but also
extended lead in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head Series by 3-1 against the world number six.
Seeded eighth in this event, Nishikori made a convincing entry at the Ariake Coliseum. He drew the first blood in the fifth game and leaped to a 4-2 lead. Despite levelling the scores in the eighth game, the Japanese broke his rival’s serve again in the
11th game and eventually sealed the opener by winning seven games to five. Nishikori failed to save the only breakpoint he faced but capitalised on two out of 11 break chances to dominate.
Ranked 17th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Nishikori lost his track towards the proceeding set. He suffered the first blow in the fourth game and went 1-3 down. However, he stayed focused and went on a four-game tear. The
Japanese then plucked his serve once more and subsequently clicked the set with a 6-4 win. He availed both break chances to steal the limelight and advance at this event.
Nishikori, who is Asia’s top ranked player, will square off against the Cypriot number one, Marcos Baghdatis, who dumped Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov in straight sets to progress.
“Dmitry is a tricky player,” said the Cypriot after conquering the qualifier. “He can find a way to come back with his big shots, big serves and big returns. I felt pressure in the whole match. I’m very happy because when there was pressure, I served really
well and took my chances at the beginning of the match and the beginning of the second set.”
Baghdatis smoothly held his entire serves and cashed half of the six break opportunities to formulate a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
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