TENNIS ATP FINALS – Kei Nishikori opened the 2014 World tour Finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Andy Murray. The Japanese player managed to win in an erratic match where both players struggled to hold serve. From London Paul Sassoon
Kei Nishikori had a successful debut at the O2 Arena winning his first match at the ATP Finals. The fourth seed won 6-4, 6-4 against Andy Murray in the first match of Group B and of the tournament as a whole.
It was Murray’s first appearance in England after the Scottish independence referendum and there was some uncertainty as to how the English fans would welcome him after he came out in favour of the yes vote. When the players were presented there was no backlash and the Scotsman was welcomed on court by the fans. There wasn’t an overwhelming support though as the Japanese player walked on court to a similar cheer.
Nishikori won a scrappy match with few exciting rallies and many mistakes. Both players struggled with the serve, Nishikori made 8 double faults and could manage only 46% of first serves in the court whilst Murray made only 3 double faults and a more respectable 58% of first serves, but he only managed to win 7 points with the second serve out of 26 (27%). These two players were not expected to dominate on serve, but so many double faults and breaks of serve were somewhat of a surprise.
Nishikori won his first encounter with Murray at his fourth attempt by limiting his unforced errors compared to the Scot. In both sets the players traded breaks before the Japanese player made the decisive break in the last games of each set. Murray seemed to be out of the match at the start of the second set, he lost his serve in the second game and faced two break points in the fourth game, but he recovered and managed to draw level at 4 all after breaking back in the seventh game. But it was again a weakness in his serve that cost him the match in the tenth game of the second set, just like in the first, “I didn’t serve well enough today. I would say that was the biggest difference in the match. And when you’re not serving well, obviously on your own service games you want to be looking to dictate the points. When you’re returning, you kind of dictate when you have the opportunity. You don’t always have the chance if someone’s serving well.” Murray said in the press conference. Regarding his chances of qualifying to the semifinals, Murray is aware that this defeat makes life much tougher for him, “it’s harder to qualify when you lose your first match. That’s pretty obvious. But, yeah, unlike the other events, you still have a chance to go through. If this were anywhere else, I would be out of the tournament.”
Nishikori spoke about the moment that could have turned the match around in the fourth game of the second set when he failed to break the Scot for a second time in the set, “I should have finish maybe 6 2 or 6 3 before he’s coming back. But I was, you know, try to stay calm, even he was playing little better, you know, start playing little more consistent. I got little bit tight, honestly. But, yeah, I was, you know, try to stay focus even he came back strong. But, yeah, mentally I think I’m getting little more, you know, calm and strong.”
