Kei Nishikori and Roberto Bautista made it through to the fourth round of the Miami Open in completely opposite fashion. Nishikori never gave Alexandr Dolgopolov a chance in a 6-2, 6-2 win which took just 72 minutes and included a whopping 31 unforced errors from the Ukrainian and up to 16 break points for the Japanese player.
Nishikori is almost at home in Miami as he spent many years at Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Brandenton and he admitted before the event that “playing here is better for my game. I live in Florida and it’s like playing at home”. He certainly proved that against Dolgopolov with a stunning display but, despite the result, the tough conditions meant Nishikori finished the match with hardly any energy left in the tank and could be seen leaning on to his chair, bearing his teeth in grimace.
The world number six will have to recover quickly as he’ll be up against it in the last sixteen, where he meets Roberto Bautista. The Spaniard turned around a one set deficit to shock Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 scoreline. Bautista, who has already won two titles this year, hurt Tsonga with his powerful forehand, and especially found joy when running around his backhand to hit a flat and short angled cross court forehand.
However, it wasn’t only Bautista’s attacking play which got him over the finish line but also a remarkable defensive showing which included a demonstration of soft hands by mixing up pin-point lobs with running backhands down the line. In the end it was too much for Tsonga, who just about held onto his final serve before the decisive tie break and fell behind 6-0 before eventually losing the breaker 7-3.
