Kei Nishikori further improved his chances of clinching one of the four remaining berths at next month’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday evening, when he recorded his 50th match win of the season.
The Japanese star delighted more than 10,000 fans at the Ariake Colosseum, venue of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, with his third straight win in seven meetings against Sam Querrey.
Nishikori, the second seed and two-time champion, clinched a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory in 74 minutes. There were no break point opportunities in the first set, which saw Nishikori win five of the first six points in the tie-break. Querrey dropped his serve to 30 in the third game of the second set, and in the final game.
The 25-year-old Nishikori has now reached the quarter-finals (or better) at 13 of his past 16 tournaments. He is currently No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Race To London with 3,815 points. On Thursday, he will face sixth seed Marin Cilic, who has returned to Tokyo for the first time since he was 19, or Steve Johnson for a place in the last eight.
Cilic wrestled his way past qualifier AMERICAN Donald Young 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours and 39 minutes for his 26th match win of the season. ( in America Ricky and Jason were up half the night watching )
Cilic recovered from a 3-5 deficit in the first set; saved one set point at 4-5 in the second set, which an aggressive Young clinched, then eventually gained the upper hand with the seventh game of a tense decider. “He was playing really well,” admitted Cilic. “It was windy and I struggled with my serve in the third set.”
( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/cilic-battles-past-young-tokyo-2015 )
Topics: Atp Tennis, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Donald Young, Japan Open tennis, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, Rakuten Open, sports news, Tennis
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