Sixth seed Kei Nishikori beat Dominic Thiem 6-3 7-5 to secure his spot in the semifinals of the Rome Internazionali BNL d’Italia where he will face Novak Djokovic. Nishikori had already beaten Thiem in straight sets at Halle in 2015.
Thiem raced to a 3-1 lead in the first set but Nishikori bounced back to win the next five games with two breaks in the sixth game for 3-3 and in the eighth game for 5-3 to clinch the first set. In the second set the Japanese star fended off three break points at 0-40 while he was serving at 1-2. Nishikori got his only break of the second set in the 11th game for 6-5 before converting his first match point after 98 minutes.
Nishikori fired 18 winners to 14 unforced errors. Thiem struck 21 winners to 39 unforced errors.
“He is a tough opponent. He hits very heavy on both wings. Great backhands. Not many weaknesses. It was really a battle of groundstrokes from the baseline. At the moment I am playing really well. I returned well. I tried to stay because he has a great kick serve”, said Nishikori.
