Nishikori Cruises to Third Straight Memphis Crown
Kei Nishikori captured his third consecutive Memphis Open title on Sunday, beating second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4.
It was the first straight set match Nishikori played in the tournament, having to go the distance in his first three contests of the event. He fought off 12 aces and was able to capitalize on three of his four break point chances to become the first player to win the Memphis tournament three straight times.
"It's (an) amazing feeling because nobody ever done this before at this tournament, so it's something special,” said Nishikori. "But, you know, I think I have to do better to keep this, and hopefully I can keep going.”
In the first ever match between the two players, both exchanged holds through the first eight games of the opening set. Nishikori got the important break to go up 5-4 and then held to finish the 38 minute set.
In the second frame, Nishikori was able to again get the crucial break point, this time at 2-2 to take a 3-2 lead. From there, he was able to serve out the rest of the set to close out Anderson and win his eighth career title.
“He didn’t make it easy, so I have to give credit to him,” added Nishikori. “I think he came out played a really solid match. I felt I played a couple of really loose games, especially in that first set.”
As for Anderson, he will try and build off a solid performance when he plays next week in Delray Beach.
“Being in that stage a few times now in the finals, obviously you want to take it a little but further, but it wasn’t there,” said Anderson. “I have couple of other tournaments coming up now so I can’t afford to dwell on this.”
