Nishikori Outlasts Berdych in London
Kei Nishikori hung on to beat Czech Tomas Berdych 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in a round-robin match to earn his first victory of in the Stan Smith Group at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London on Tuesday.
The eighth-seed from Japan broke late in the opening set to take a 6-5 lead, and after consolidating it with a hold, won the first set 7-5.
But Berdych responded in the second set. Despite Nishikori securing the early break for a 2-0 lead, Berdych rattled off five straight games to take a 5-2 lead, and two games later, closed the set out by holding at love to force the match into a deciding third set.
In the third, Nishikori and Berdych were in a tight seventh game on Nishikori’s serve. After a long rally, Nishikori saved a break point when a Berdych backhand flew into the net.
"That was a really big point. He had three, four shots that he went really aggressive," said Nishikori. "I mean, last shot, I kind of went for it, closed my eyes. Was a little bit lucky I made that shot."
From there, Nishikori seized momentum. He held, and then secured the lone break of the set in the next game, and closed the match out in his next service game to move to 1-1 in London.
“The rally started pretty well for me, but I was not able to break him. Then I lost my serve,” said Berdych. “Basically, that was it. That was the difference today.”
Nishikori will take on Roger Federer in his next match, while Berdych will face off with Djokovic.
“It’s going to be a really important match for both of us,” said Nishikori. “I have to win the next match to qualify from the group. So I will try to recover well today and tomorrow, and I will get good tactics ready and try to play another good match.”
Federer and Djokovic square off later this afternoon.
