TENNIS US OPEN – It is said that slow and steady wins the race. Well Kei Nishikori has taken that adage as his own personal mantra. He has now played two consecutive straight set matches where he seemed to be prolonging the matches instead of taking the early initiative and run with it. From New York, Cordell Hackshaw
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It is said that slow and steady wins the race. Well Kei Nishikori (10) has taken that adage as his own personal mantra. He has now played two consecutive straight set matches where he seemed to be prolonging the matches instead of taking the early initiative and run with it. He took on Stan Wawrinka (3) for a place in the semifinal. Nishikori again weathered the storm as he upset the reigning Australian Open champion, 3-6 7-5 7-6(7) (5)6-7 6-3. Nishikori now joins the “Young Guns Club” of Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic as making their first major semifinals.
Wawrinka started the match in impressive style. He quickly broke Nishikori for a 3-0 lead after saving break point on his opening service game. Wawrinka maintained this lead to take the set as he ended it with an ace for 6-3. In the 2nd set, Nishikori had 4 early chances to break but again failed to capitalize on those opportunities. However, later on in the 12th game, Wawrinka double faults to hand Nishikori the set 7-5 and in essence level the match.
Nishikori used this momentum to gain the upper hand in the 3rd set. He was finding his range on his groundstrokes and forcing the errors from Wawrinka. He was up 5-2 and had a set point on Wawrinka’s serve but made a forehand error and the Swiss kept cool under the pressure to hold. Serving for the set, Nishikori had what could be described as a mental lapse. He played one of the craziest service games ever including going for a “hotdog shot” which inevitably gave Wawrinka break point. It seemed as though Nishikori was not ready to close out the set as he was broken and then 20 minutes later was forced to play a tiebreaker. After many shifting momentum in the breaker, the Japanese was able to close it out 9-7 points and gain a 2-1 sets lead.
In the 4th set, both players held the course as neither faced a single break point. Hence a tiebreaker was necessary to decide the matter. Wawrinka raced out to a 4-0 lead before Nishikori found his way back into the breaker for 4-4. However, he began to play loose shots and so Wawrinka was able to take the set 7-5 points and force a decisive set. Again, like the 4th set, they remained on serve for much of the 5th set. Nishikori was looking rather lifeless on the court trying not to overextend himself since the latter stage of the 4th set. He was conserving energy and mainly concerning himself with holding serve. “From outside he looks really dead, but we know on the court he can play, and he play long like what he did today. If even at the beginning he looks like he’s going to die on the court, but he’s there. Physically he’s there,” said Wawrinka.
In the 10th game, up 5-4, Nishikori knew the time was now to act if he wanted to win this match. Wawrinka serving to stay in the match became rather dodgy as he double faulted to bring up double match points. He was able to save one but on the other, his forehand was dumped in the net. Nishikori won 3-6 7-5 7-67 56-7 6-3 and is through to his first semifinal in a major. After the match, Nishikori said, “I was playing much better in third and fourth and I have more confidence to get in the fifth set. So, you know, I tried to focus on my service game. I just took, yeah, one chance in the end.”
There was nothing outstanding about the statistics than the 8 double faults from Wawrinka particularly the two that would give Nishikori the break/set points. Also of interest in the fact that Wawrinka was not making a lot of 1st set serves, 56% for the match and only winning 51% on his 2nd serves. His 2nd serve has been key for him in his big wins this season, particularly against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final. Wawrinka also had 68 winners and 78 errors compared to Nishikori who had 41 winners and 51 errors. “I’m a little bit disappointed with myself, with the level I had today. I don’t think I played a great match. I think I was a little bit hesitating with my game. I didn’t find a way to take control of the rhythm of the match big time because he was playing well, but I still think that I should maybe try something different. But it’s tough,” said Wawrinka. Nishikori will play Novak Djokovic in the semifinal for a place in his first major final.
