David Goffin moved into the quarter-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Wednesday after beating Jiri Vesely 6-3, 7-5. Goffin earned his 40th tour-level win of the year and moved into his eighth quarter-final of 2016. Instead of facing top seed and home favourite Kei Nishikori in the final eight, the Belgian will instead meet Portugal’s Joao Sousa, who had gone winless in his past 21 meetings with Top-10 players. The Japanese star was up 3-0 against Sousa, but suffered an acute injury to his gluteus muscle and retired from his second-round match while leading 4-3. “It was hugely disappointing to have to retire from my match, especially since I was playing much better than during my...
Watch highlights of Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori and others in Wednesday action at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com. Getty Images photo.
Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Gilles Simon dealt a tough loss to Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin, saving two match points en route to a 1-6, 6-4, 13/11 win in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Wednesday. Qureshi/Simon saved match points down 9/8 and 11/10 in the Match Tie-break, then won the final three points to upset the recent Shenzhen Open finalists. While Marach/Martin, who are 10th in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, failed to make up ground on No. 8 Henri Kontinen and John Peers, Kontinen and Peers were in turn unable to increase their 605-point lead. The Finnish/Australian duo was beaten by 6-7(5), 6-3, 14-12 by...
Marin Cilic was pushed to the limit by Fernando Verdasco in the second round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Wednesday, but the No. 4 seed ultimately rallied to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in two hours and 25 minutes. “In the first two sets, I was controlling the rallies in the critical points but just missing by a little bit,” Cilic said. “Later I found my rhythm a bit with my first serve, and then he was up and down in the third set. I felt that mentally I was always there, and I was happy to pull out of a difficult situation.” Cilic, No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, strengthened his case to...
Watch Hot Shot as Fernando Verdasco guesses right and cranks a forehand winner against Marin Cilic. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com. Photo: Getty Images