Kei Nishikori thrilled his home fans as the US Open finalist posted a 6-3, 6-4 opening victory over Ivan Dodig yesterday to reach the second round of the Japan Open in Tokyo.
The fourth-seeded Nishikori could do no wrong at the Ariake Colosseum, where the roof was closed due to intermittent rain after two days of sunshine.
Nishikori, last week’s champion in Kuala Lumpur, defeated Croatia’s Dodig for the second time this season after a win in Madrid and next faces the US’ Donald Young, who he beat in both of their previous ATP matches.
“Winning Kuala Lumpur gave me more confidence. I try not to pay attention to the crowd or what the opponent is doing, but it’s always good to play at home. I can feel the support here,” he said.
Japan’s top player is working to become the first Asian man to qualify for the eight-strong field at London’s World Tour finals next month. Nishikori currently stands in provisional sixth with five spots to be filled over the next month of regular-season ATP play.
Yesterday’s victory took his record to 45 wins and 10 defeats this year.
Nishikori spent just less than 90 minutes earning his victory against an increasingly frustrated Dodig, who became annoyed with the ballboys and the Hawkeye computerized line calling system.
Nishikori was out-aced 6-2 by the 61st-ranked Croatian, who saved two match points in the penultimate game.
Nishikori took the opening set in 38 minutes thanks to a break for 5-3 as he took the early lead. The Japanese went down a break, 1-3 in the second, but leveled again in the fifth game.
Nishikori then tacked on an insurance break for 4-3 and closed out victory three games later on his third match point.
In yesterday’s other action, France’s Gilles Simon came from a set and a break down to overhaul Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 4-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3. He next faces’ the US’ Steve Johnson, who defeated Spain’s Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 with a 10-ace performance for the winner which took just less than two hours.
Johnson was joined by compatriot Jack Sock as the Wimbledon doubles champion beat Kazakhstani Andrey Golubev 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
Also advancing was Germany’s Benjamin Becker, who disappointed the home fans by rolling over Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-3.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with