Kei Nishikori has to fight for his place in Roland Garros second round, defeat for Sam Querrey - UBITENNIS

Kei Nishikori has to fight for his place in Roland Garros second round, defeat for Sam Querrey

By Alex Burton
3 Min Read
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Nishikori was forced to fight hard for the win, but will take on Jeremy Chardy in round two.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori is into the second round of this year’s French Open. The eighth seed was forced to work hard for his 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over the recently returned from injury Thanasi Kokkinakis.

The young Aussie came out firing, breaking Nishikori’s serve in the second game and held the rest of the set for a surprising lead.  The twenty-one year-old has played just two tournaments prior to this event since 2015. He lost to Gastao Elias in his only event of 2016 at the Rio Olympics, before losing to Denis Istomin last week in Lyon.

It was not surprising then that Nishikori came surging back in the second. The Japanese star won five straight games from 1-1 to level the scores.

Kokkinakis recovered his composure to play a competitive third set. He managed to stem the tide of five straight games for Nishikori by winning three in a row himself. Nishikori recovered though, and won five of the next six to take the third set and lead for the first time in the match.

Kokkinakis continued to fight hard, but slowly the match was pulled away from him as his lack of match fitness became apparent. He went for difficult winners in an attempt to shorten points and the unforced errors began to flow. Kokkinakis surrendered his serve in game five, and failed to really test Nishikori from that point, as the Japanese closed out the match with backhand winner.

The signs are promising for Kokkinakis, as he looks in good shape after finally recovering from multiple shoulder surgeries that robbed him of nearly two years at the top.

Nishikori can look forward to a second round match with Jeremy Chardy. Chardy was a straight sets winner over Radu Albot in the first round.

Sam Querrey continued the miserable run for American men in this year’s tournament. The twenty-seventh seed joined Ernesto Escobedo in departing from the draw after a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss to Hyeon Chung. Steve Johnson remains the only American to move into round two, with John Isner the last American man to play in the first round.

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