Tatsuma Ito/Kei Nishikori defeat Christopher Kas/Alexander Peya in 1st round – Rakuten Open 2011
Japanese wild card enterers, Tatsuma Ito and Kei Nishikori stunned the third seeds, German Christopher Kas and Austrian Alexander Peya, in brutal three sets at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2011, an ATP World Tour
500 series event held on the outdoor hard courts at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan. They made a comeback win to register a 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 victory over Kas/Peya tandem on Monday.
The high flying Japanese duo was set down before they lifted their game up to pull out a three setter victory in one hour and twenty-six minutes on their first meeting. They displayed brilliant co-ordination to gun down the seeds
after cashing in on the only breakpoint opportunity to their advantage in the second set.
Kas and Peya high spiritedly entered the opening set and easily plucked in entire serves without facing any breakpoint. They founded eight breakpoint opportunities and converted one to their advantage in the seventh game to clinch
the opener with a 6-4 win.
The winning combination of Ito and Nishikori re-gathered their form to keep their serve in the opening game of the second set. They maintained their composure to hold on remaining serves without facing any hurdle and after capitalising
on the only breakpoint chance to their advantage in the last game, the Japanese triumphed the set with a 6-4 score line.
In the super tie-breaker, the Japanese manifested a spectacular first serve share of 71 percent as opposed to the 12th ranked pair of Kas and Peya’s 14 percent. They also registered an amazing 80 percent win on it and
eventually bagged the decider with a 10-4 win.
Overall, Ito and Nishikori formulated a better first serve share of 78 percent as compared to their seeded rivals’ 51 percent and earned an impressive 69 percent win on it. In addition to this, they spilled fewer errors, committed
only two double faults and put the cherry on the match by smashing four aces.
Up next for the beaming pair is the winner of the match between British Murray brothers, Andy and Jamie, and the Spanish Canadian team of Pablo Andujar and Milos Raonic.
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