LATEST TENNIS NEWS – MARIN CILIC TO FACE KEI NISHIKORI IN TOKYO QFs

Written by: Staff on 8th October 2015

LATEST TENNIS NEWS - MARIN CILIC TO FACE KEI NISHIKORI IN TOKYO QFs

epa04885679 Kei Nishikori of Japan looks over to Andy Murray of Great Britain during their men's semi-final singles match at the Rogers Cup Open ATP tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada, 15 Aug 2015. Nishikori lost. EPA/ANDRE PICHETTE |

Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori will play Friday in a repeat of the 2014 US Open final

Marin Cilic will play two-time champion Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships on Friday.

Cilic, the sixth seed, proved to be too strong for Steve Johnson in a 6-3, 6-3 victory over 74 minutes at the Ariake Colosseum on Thursday afternoon. The win means that Cilic now moves past Milos Raonic to No. 12 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, but he is currently 1,245 points behind No. 8-ranked David Ferrer. There are four spots left up for grabs at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which he hopes to compete at the second straight year.

Second seed Nishikori, who is in sixth position to qualify for the season finale at The O2 in London from 15-22 November, has a 6-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head lead against Cilic. Nishikori won their recent clash at Washington D.C. in three sets.

Nick Kyrgios lost just seven of his service points to sweep into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Roberto Bautista Agut in just 57 minutes. Last week’s Kuala Lumpur semi-finalist now meets Benoit Paire, who knocked out Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Qualifier Austin Krajicek, who is currently No. 124 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, progressed to just his second ATP World Tour quarter-final by ousting Joao Sousa 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. In February, also as a qualifier, he reached the Memphis last eight (lost to Nishikori). The American now challenges top seed Stan Wawrinka, who is aiming to lift his fourth title of the season.

Second Seeds Fall In Doubles Quarter-Finals

Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Gilles Simon recovered from a 3-7 deficit in the Match Tie-break to defeat recent US Open champion and second seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 4-6, 6-3, 10-8. In the semi-finals, the duo will play third seeds Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo, who knocked out Treat Huey and Henri Kontinen 2-6, 7-6(3), 10-7.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/cilic-set-up-nishikori-clash-at-tokyo-2015 )

Topics: Atp World Tour, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, Rakuten Japan Open, Sports, Tennis News, Tokyo

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10sBalls_com says:

October 8, 2015 at 9:36 am

LATEST #TENNIS NEWS – @cilic_marin TO FACE @keinishikori IN #TOKYO QFs- http://t.co/Gx5yTpP4NE #TokyoJapan #RakutenJapanOpen #ATP