Kei Nishikori has claimed his most high-profile win for three years after stunning Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Canadian Masters in Montreal.
The former US Open finalist fought his way to a 6-4, 6-4, win over the Greek, who is the first top 20 player he has beaten since the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. Nishikori hit a total of 21 winners and won 68% of his service points to become the lowest-ranked player to ever beat Tsitsipas on the Tour at 576th in the world.
“It means a lot beating Stef,” Nishikori said afterward. “It’s not easy, especially for me, it’s a great win.”
“I was playing really well, staying aggressive and I wasn’t missing too many balls. Much better (performance) than first round.”
The 35-year-old didn’t have the entire match his way, especially during the first set when he lost 10 points in a row at one stage. Nevertheless, he held his nerve to weather the storm as his opponent expressed his bemusement with the court. A lackluster Tsitsipas hit 21 unforced errors and was complaining to the umpire about the court conditions.
“I was so nervous at that point. I was ready to play five-all.” Nishikori said of the first set.
“I was missing a lot and suddenly things can change. This is tennis.
“I somehow managed to hold and after that, I was playing more stay calm.”
The triumph comes 24 hours after Nishikori won his first match at a Masters 1000 tournament since 2021 when he defeated Alex Michelsen. The former world No.4 has endured a lengthy battle with injury in recent years. He underwent hip surgery in February 2022 which ruled him out for the rest of that season. Then later that same year, he suffered an ankle injury which delayed his return for a further 4-5 months.
“It means a lot beating those two good players and also playing well again. I feel like I’m back a on a track.” He said.
2021 champion Medvedev stunned
Embed from Getty ImagesJoining Tsitsipas in exiting the tournament is third seed Daniil Medvedev who suffered a shock 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, loss to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who has claimed just his second win over a top 10 player this year.
Medvedev, who reached the third round of the Olympic tennis event in Paris last week, struggled during large periods of the match with his consistency. Paving the way for Fokina to cruise through the deciding set convincingly.
“It’s not an easy year for me,” said Fokina whose win-loss record for 2024 currently stands at 15-15.
“There have been a lot of changes in my life then and to have this opportunity to win against a player like Daniil, it gives me a lot of strength and power to continue growing and growing deep with Fernando (his coach Fernando Verdasco) because we are doing a very good job.”
It is only the third time in 14 attempts that Fokina has beaten a top five player in his career. He is required to reach the quarter-finals in Montreal to keep his place in the ATP top 50. The last time he was outside of the top 50 was in January 2022.
