TENNIS – Kei Nishikori upset Roger Federer 3-6 7-5 6-4 in the quarter final at the Sony Open in Miami one day after edging David Ferrer in a thrilling fourth round match in which he saved four match points. Diego Sampaolo
Nishikori fought back from a break down twice in the second set to beat Federer for the second consecutive time in his career one year after his win in Madrid. Nishikori has reached the second Masters 1000 semifinal of his career. The Japanese player, who is based in Florida, scored his 11th win over a top-10 player.
Federer started very well and was looking to be cruising to a easy win after building up a 4-1 lead in the first set with a service game to love. He dropped his serve for the first time in this tournament in the seventh game but he broke back immediately to close out the first set in 34 minutes.
Federer looked to be in full control of the match when he went up a break twice in the second set at 2-1 and 4-3. Nishikori rallied from two breaks down in the next service games before breaking serve to force the match to the third set. Nishikori hit an ace to go up 6-5. They were level at 30-30 in the next game on Federer’s serve when Nishikori hit a backhand winner. On the next point Nishikori got the break as Federer hit his backhand into the net.
The third set went on serve in the first four games before Nishikori held serve to take a 5-4 lead. Nishikori could not convert on two break point chances in the fourth game of the third set before breaking serve on his third match point in the tenth game to wrap up the match in two hours and eight minutes. Nishikori won the first three points in that game before Federer hit a crosscourt forehand winner followed by an ace. However Nishikori hit a backhand crosscourt winner on Federer’s serve
Nishikori now leads 2-1 in his his head-to-head matches against Federer. Nishikori recovered well from the dramatic match against last year’s Miami finalist David Ferrer when he fended off four match points and it was a big surprise.
“I am feeling good to beat Roger. I thought I really played well especially in the third set. I was hitting deep and striking well. There were a couple of tough moments but I was fighting through and happy to win today”, said Nishikori.
The Japanese player has achieved his best result in his fifth appearance in Miami.
There will not be the much-awaited match between Federer and Djokovic but an unexpected match between the Serbian player and Nishikori. The Japanese won their last head-to-head match in the Basel semifinal in three sets in 2011 when Djokovic was not in his best form after a highly successful season.
Djokovic beat Andy Murray 7-5 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 10 matches.
“Djokovic is playing well. I played him a long time ago in Basel and I beat him before, so hopefully I play good like today”, said Nishikori.
Federer, who lost just 18 points on serve and won all his 27 service games during the whole tournament, faced problems this time winning just 53 percent of his first serve. He dropped serve five times and made 39 unforced errors.
“I could never really get my service games going. It’s a bit frustrating but Kei did well to stay with me. As the match went on, Kei started to serve a bit better, which made it more difficult. He was more consistent in the second and the third sets. I predict that Kei is going to be Top 10 in a short while”, said Federer.
