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Kei Nishikori upsets Mardy Fish to reach semis in the US Men’s Clay Court Championship

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Kei Nishikori upsets Mardy Fish to reach semis in the US Men’s Clay Court Championship
6th seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori slew top seeded American Mardy Fish in straight sets on Friday night to advance to the semi-final in the 2011 US Men’s Clay Court Championship at Houston.
21-year-old Nishikori stunned the number one American in straight sets on his first ever meeting at the River Oaks Country Club. He registered a 6-3, 6-2 win over the 29-year-old Fish in just 71 minutes to book his spot in
the semi-finals.
Ranked 61st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Nishikori displayed his awe-inspiring skills in the match and outplayed the in-form American completely.
"I don't think he played great today, he was missing a lot," Nishikori said. "But I played good enough to beat him and played good clay court tennis."
In the opening set, the Japanese youngster took a leap after 2-2 tie by breaking Fish serve in the 6th game to eventually clinch the set with a 6-3 win. Though he committed more double faults and had
a poor first serve share of 42 percent as compared to American’s 62 percent, but he earned an amazing 91 percent win on it. In addition to this, he did not face a breakpoint and successfully converted two breakpoint opportunities.
Nishikori stayed on track in the second set and held his opening serve plausibly. He continued to hold his serves spectacularly and converting two of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage, he won the match convincingly
with a 6-2 score line. The Japanese again committed more double faults and had a lower first serve share but he registered a perfect win on it and conceded zero breakpoints.
"Being the No. 1 American, it's a responsibility every time you step on the court, people would say 'I'm going to go and watch so and so today and have a pretty good experience doing it,'" Fish said, who is 50 ranks above
the Japanese.
"That's a responsibility hopefully I'll have for a little bit and do a better job of it than I did tonight."
The top ranked American did not play well in the match and took no advantage of the higher first serve share he earned. The seeded American also didn’t capitalize on the several unforced errors his rival committed.
Nishikori will next face 7th seeded Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas who bounced back to upset the 3rd seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia Lopez by 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 thriller in one hour and
41 minutes.

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