Nadal, Nishikori Move Into Montreal Third Round

August 13, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Nadal LI_0

Rafael Nadal got his Rogers Cup tournament off to a winning start on Wednesday, downing Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach the third-round in Montreal.

The seventh-seed Nadal had a chance to serve out the first set, but was broken by Stakhovsky to send the opening set into a tiebreak. Nadal outdueled him in the tiebreaker, and despite seeing a 5-1 second-set lead get cut to 5-3, closed out the Ukrainian in straight sets.

“I think it was a good match,” said Nadal. “Only one bad game in the whole match at 5-4 with my serve in the first set. The rest was a positive match I think. The conditions were not easy today. A lot of wind [against] a player who don’t want to play a lot of points from the baseline, so I tried to play the points shorter, going to the net, playing with slice. It was not an easy opponent to start.”

Nadal converted all three of his break point chances to move past Stakhovsky.

Up next for the Spaniard is qualifier Mikhail Youzhny. The Russian upset ninth-seed Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4 to advance.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori notched a routine 6-3, 6-3 win over Spain’s Pablo Andujar to reach the third-round. The fourth-seed Nishikori converted four of his six break point chances and ripped 24 winners to get by Andujar.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good,” said Nishikori. “After winning the title you have to feel good. My tennis is getting better. I think I didn’t start quite well, but it was windy. We had a little wait, so it wasn’t easy in the beginning. After a couple games I was playing well and concentrating well too. I’m very happy with my tennis today.”

He will next play Belgium’s David Goffin. The 13th seed Goffin dispatched Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.

Wednesday played host to a number of upsets in Montreal. In one of the earlier matches, American Jack Sock came back from a set down to knock off 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-5.

Sock will meet world number one Novak Djokovic next.

His compatriot, Donald Young, ousted fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6(5), 6-3.  

“I haven’t played him before so it was a first time, I didn’t know what to expect. I know he hits big,” said Young. “I hadn’t started as well as I wanted to and I was missing a lot of shots but then I started to relax a little bit and with confidence from winning a few matches I felt pretty good towards the end.”

Young will play fellow qualifier Ernests Gulbis. The Latvian beat Lukas Rosol 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Australian Nick Kyrgios came back from a set down to beat third-seed Stan Wawrinka 6-7(8), 6-3, 4-0 (retired), while his compatriot Bernard Tomic took down sixth-seed Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-4.

Kyrgios will play 16th seeded American John Isner, who beat Vasek Pospisil 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-3, next.  Tomic will meet France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Roberto Bautista-Agut 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-5. 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Bethpage
Century

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