Murray and Nishikori Moves Into Quarter Finals In Shanghai

Written by: Global Chick on 14th October 2011

Murray and Nishikori Moves Into Quarter Finals In Shanghai

Andy Murray of Great Britain returns the ball against Rafael Nadal of Spain during the finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan, 09 October 2011. Murray won 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN |

Andy Murray is continuing his Asian Swing success after advancing into the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday. The World No. 4 battled past Swiss number two Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Murray raced ahead 5-0 in the deciding set but Wawrinka dug deep and won the next three games before Murray closed out the match. “I got myself pumped up right at the beginning of the third set. I think it was important. Stan was playing very well. I was trying to control the ball especially in the middle of the second set, I was really struggling. I started dictating a lot of the points with my forehand and trying to get the first strike in cause the court is playing very fast,” the Brit said.

With two titles in the last two weeks Murray is looking to finish his Asian stint with a third this week. He won the PTT Thailand Open two weeks ago and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships last week.

Next up for Andy Murray is Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden who had a surprise win over the number eight seed Gilles Simon 6-2 2-6 7-6 (8). Ebden is currently ranked 124^th in the world. This is the first time the Australian has reached an ATP Masters quarterfinal. “I guess the situation, to play for a quarterfinal spot in a Masters tournament is huge. I was definitely nervous out there closing out the match,” Ebden said.

Japanese player Kei Nishikori is having a great run in Shanghai. He took out Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 7-6 (6) 4-6 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. The 21-year-old will be the highest ranked Japanese male player of all times on Monday. The highest ranked Japanese player was Shuzo Matsuoka who got to N0. 46. “Matsuoka has been a great mentor and teacher for me. It’s an honour to be able to break his record and become the number one tennis player in Japan,” Nishikori said.

Of his great week in Shanghai Nishikori said, “It is really special for me reaching the quarterfinals. It’s only few times playing Masters, so it really means a lot to me this win. Alexandr Dologpolov of the Ukraine is Nishikori’s next opponent. The No. 12 seed came back from losing the first set to the young Aussie 7-5. After that Dolgopolov turned the match around and only lost one more game taking the next two sets 6-1 6-0.

SCHEDULE – FRIDAY, 14 OCTOBER, 2011

STADIUM start 2:00 pm

[3] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [10] A Roddick (USA)

[12] A Dolgopolov (UKR) vs K Nishikori (JPN)

Not Before 6:00 PM

[15] F Mayer (GER) vs F Lopez (ESP)

Not Before 8:00 PM

[Q] M Ebden (AUS) vs [2] A Murray (GBR)

GRANDSTAND start 1:00 pm

[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs [6] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)

[3] M Llodra (FRA) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs [8] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU)

T Bellucci (BRA) / I Dodig (CRO) vs [4] M Bhupathi (IND) / L Paes (IND)