STAN WAWRINKA JOINS KEI NISHIKORI IN THE TOKYO SECOND ROUND – TENNIS NEWS

Written by: on 6th October 2015
STAN WAWRINKA JOINS KEI NISHIKORI IN THE TOKYO SECOND ROUND - TENNIS NEWS  |
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Stan Wawrinka began his quest for a fourth title of the season on Tuesday at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

Top seed Wawrinka recorded his second win in six meetings against 36-year-old Radek Stepanek 7-5, 6-3 mid-afternoon at the Ariake Colosseum. He will next play Japanese wild card Tatsuma Ito in the second round.

“It was a really good match for a first round,” said Wawrinka. “I served well and hit the ball well. [Ito] will have the support of the crowd, but it will all depend on me. I lost to him last year, but I am playing well and I hope I can play a good match.”

Wawrinka took a 4-1 lead, courtesy of a break in the fourth game, but Stepanek – making his eighth appearance in Tokyo – fought back to level at 5-5. Wawrinka clinched the 41-minute opener by converting his first set point opportunity on Stepanek’s serve at 6-5 on a winning run of five straight games to 3-0 in the second set. Wawrinka hit 11 aces and won 30 of his 37 first service points for victory in 78 minutes.

Wawrinka has already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November. He has a 44-13 match record on the season, including titles at Chennai (d. Bedene), Rotterdam (d. Berdych) and Roland Garros (d. Djokovic).

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Richard Gasquet and Kevin Anderson both made first round exits.

Roberto Bautista Agut accounted for Gasquet 6-4, 6-1 early evening. Gasquet, who was the Tokyo runner-up in 2007 (l. to Ferrer), is currently at No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race To London and drops to a 34-13 match record on the season. Anderson, No. 10 in the battle for a place at the prestigious season finale, failed to convert any of his four break point opportunities in a 6-2, 6-3 loss to fellow big server Gilles Muller.

Gilles Simon and Marin Cilic, who both compete in Tokyo this week, will now look to add valuable Emirates ATP Rankings points after Milos Raonic’s exit at the China Open in Beijing. Simon, the third seed, who is No. 14 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, avenged his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Montreal loss to Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-4

Muller will now challenge Jeremy Chardy, who benefited from a right foot injury to Sam Groth in the second set of their match.

Benoit Paire knocked out eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to set up a clash against Marcos Baghdatis, a semi-finalist in 2012 (l. to Nishikori), who defeated Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-1. Steve Johnson advanced when leading 6-3, 2-1 against Bernard Tomic, who withdrew due to illness.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/wawrinka-begins-title-quest-tokyo-2015 )

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