Kei Nishikori pumped his right fist in celebration after winning a physically demanding encounter against Marin Cilic on Friday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Nishikori, renowned for his fighting abilities, had seen three match points evaporate in the second set, but as the match wore on he dug deep in the critical moments to complete a 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-3 quarter-final victory over the second-seeded Cilic. “Every match I think I'm improving,” said Nishikori. “Today was tough match. He was playing very good, especially in the second set. He was playing aggressively, [taking the ball] early and serving well. “It wasn't an easy match. Yeah, mentally it was a little bit tough in the second set. I lost three match points....
It has not been easy for 115-time tour-level champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. But in crunch time, the 39-year-old twins have found ways to survive and advance. A day after saving match point, the Americans faced another tough battle, overcoming defending champion Pablo Cuevas and his partner, Marcel Granollers, 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-5. Bryan/Bryan, who turn 40 on 29 April, are into their sixth semi-final in eight tournaments this year, winning their 37th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open presented by Itaú. The fourth seeds did not earn a break point in the match, but saved all four against them. And in the Match Tie-break, they gained a 5/0 lead that...
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal was rock solid on Friday when he broke apart the challenge of Dominic Thiem, one of the strongest performers on clay courts over the past two years, for a place in his 13th semi-final at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Nadal won the first nine games of an eagerly anticipated encounter against Novak Djokovic’s conqueror, Thiem, in a 6-0, 6-2 victory over 68 minutes to remain on course to capture an 11th crown at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where he has a 66-4 record. “It has been a great result for me, but it isn’t a normal result,” said Nadal. “He's one of the best players of the world, especially on clay. “Here, I think I played great....
It’s never easy playing a friend, but on Friday, a couple of hours before they were due to step onto a court again as doubles partners, Grigor Dimitrov put aside any sentiment to save three set points in the second set and beat David Goffin for a place in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters semi-finals. Under sun-kissed skies, on the hottest day of the week, fourth seed Dimitrov wrestled back the second-set momentum of sixth seed Goffin, recovering from a 1-5 deficit to win five straight games en route to completing a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory. Goffin, a semi-finalist at the Monte-Carlo Country Club last year, was unable to convert three set point chances at 5-4 in the second set during an...
Kei Nishikori won a match of extreme fluctuations on Thursday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Nishikori, back in Monaco for the first time since his 2012 debut, eventually got the better of Andreas Seppi and his large number of Italian supporters 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 in one hour and 47 minutes to close play on day five. Nishikori will now challenge second-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic on Friday. Nishikori leads 7-6 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but has lost their past three matchups. There was stunned silence on the second show court when Nishikori won the first seven games of the match against Seppi, who broke the streak by holding to 30 in the second game of the second set. It...
