Ryan Harrison stunned US Open runner-up Kevin Anderson in Tokyo as he edged the South African 6-3 1-6 7-6(2) in a tight contest to make the Quarter-Finals. He will now play top seed Marin Cilic who cruised past Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3 6-4.
The first set was very tight as both players tried to establish dominance in the early stages of the match. Despite having two break points himself, it was the South African who was the first one to be broken as Harrison grabbed a 4-2 lead in the first set. The American used his improved serve to his advantage as he sealed the first set 6-3 in 38 minutes.
However any momentum that Harrison was trying to create in the second set quickly disappeared as Anderson served big and tried to shorten the points. He finally got his deserved breakthrough in the fourth game as the world number 16 broke for a 3-1 lead. The US Open runner-up broke again for a 5-1 lead and then held serve to take the second set convincingly to force a deciding set.
The third set was very different to the first two as no break points were created as both players treated the Tokyo crowd to a serving masterclass. Both Anderson and Harrison had lost only five points on their first serve as they tried to outmanoeuvre the other. However there was no breakthrough as the third set was decided on a tiebreak. Unlike the previous 12 games the tiebreak was dominated by Harrison as he won the tiebreak 7-2 to seal his place in the last 8. It was the biggest win of Harrison’s season as he stunned an inform Kevin Anderson.
He will now play world number five Marin Cilic in the Quarter-Finals after he dispatched Japanese wildcard Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3 6-4 in 1 hour and 13 minutes. The Croatian served down 14 aces and won 88% of first service points as he overwhelmed his Japanese opponent to set up a meeting with the American. Cilic acknowledged his serving masterclass after the match, ‘Overall, I served extremely well today and found first serves when I needed them. There was one break of serve in each set and they proved to be the big difference. I am trying to maintain my focus each match and I feel my game is getting better and better.’
In other second round results there were comfortable wins for Adrian Mannarino and eighth seed Diego Schwartzman. Mannarino thrashed Jiri Vesely 6-3 6-2 in 1 hour and 10 minutes as he broke his Czech Republican opponent three times. He will now play Milos Raonic or Yuichi Sugita in the Quarter-Finals. Meanwhile Schwartzman took apart Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-1 in another lacklustre performance from the Australian. The inform Argentinian will now play Alexandr Dolgopolov or Steve Johnson next.
A couple of first round results were also completed on day three of the Rakuten Japan Open as last year’s runner up David Goffin and Alexandr Dolgopolov advanced to round two. Dolgopolov, who was runner-up to Goffin in Shenzhen last week, beat Daniil Medvedev 6-1 6-2 in a comprehensive performance, his reward is now Dominic Thiem’s conqueror Steve Johnson.
While the champion in Shenzhen, David Goffin, thrashed Feliciano Lopez 7-5 6-1 in a fantastic performance from the Belgian. Goffin who is looking to make the ATP Nitto Finals in London in November served 12 aces to set up a meeting with Matthew Ebden tomorrow.
