TENNIS ATP – Djokovic broke Pospisil’s serve four times and dropped just six points on his first serve to take a 6-3 7-5 win in Beijing. Nishikori made a winning debut beating Croatian Ivan Dodig 6-3 6-4 in front of his home supporters in a sold-out arena in Tokyo. Diego Sampaolo
ATP 500 China Open in Bejing
World Number 1 Novak Djokovic broke Canadian Vasek Pospisil’s serve four times and dropped just six points on his first serve to take a 6-3 7-5 win under the roof on Centre Court on a rainy Wednesday evening.
Djokovic converted on his second break point chance to take a 2-1 led in the first set en route to clinching the first set with 6-3. Pospisil posed a stiffer challenge in the second set taking a break in the seventh game of the second set.
Djokovic came back from a break down and saved a set point at 4-5 before getting another break in the 12th game to close out the match in straight sets with 7-5. The Serb has extended his winning streak in the China Open to 21 consecutive matches. The Serbian star is chasing his fourth title in Bejing in the last five years. He will face either Grigor Dimitrov or Pablo Andujar in the quarter finals before a semifinal against either Andy Murray or US Open champion Marin Cilic.
Djokovic, whose wife Jelena Ristic is expecting their first child in about one month, has confirmed that he will defend his titles in Shanghai, Paris Bercy and the ATP Finals in London where he will have to defend a lot of points.
“You work all your life and you dream about becoming the Number 1 in the world. That gives me plenty of motivation. That’s why I am out here in Bejing and Shanghai competing and trying that year-end Number 1”, said Djokovic
In the only other match played on Wednesday due to rain, John Isner battled past Tommy Robredo in three sets with 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4) after saving one match point when he was serving at 4-5 30-40. The US iant hit an ace to save the match point and forced the third set to the tie-break. He will face either Tomas Berdych or Viktor Troicki in the third round.
All the matches scheduled on outside courts were suspended because of heavy rain.
ATP 500 Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo
Top seed Kei Nishikori made a winning debut beating Croatian Ivan Dodig 6-3 6-4 in front of his home supporters in a sold-out arena packed by 10000 spectators. This year’s US Open finalist faced only one break point chance on 10 serves to clinch the win in one hour and 36 minutes. Nishikori, who won three titles this season in Memphis, Barcelona and Kuala Lumpur, is bidding to become the first Asian player player to qualify for the ATP World Finals.
“I felt more pressure at the US Open where I played my first Grand Slam final. Here I really felt the support. Winning in Kuala Lumpur last week gave me more confidence. I try ot to pay attention to the crowd. or what the opponent is doing”, said Nishikori
Local favourite Tatsuma Ito, who upset Stan Wawrinka yesterday, was beaten 6-3 6- by Benjamin Becker.
