By Chris Oddo | Friday August 14, 2015
Kei Nishikori pummeled Rafael Nadal in straight sets to earn his first victory in eight tries against the Spaniard on Friday night in Montreal.
Photo Source: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Kei Nishikori won for the first time in eight tries against Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Japan’s No. 1 controlled things from the onset and then resisted a late charge from the Spaniard to prevail, 6-2, 6-4.
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Nishikori pounded Nadal’s second serve, winning 15 of 24 points against it, and won all four break points he earned to hold sway over the one hour and 22 minute affair.
With his victory, Nishikori becomes the 12th player to have defeated each member of tennis’s big four (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray), and 6th active player to have done so, according to Josh Meiseles of ATPWorldTour.com.
After Nishikori took a double-break 4-1 lead in set two, Nadal managed his only break of the evening but his comeback stopped short as the No. 4 seed served the match out for his 46th win of the season.
With the loss, Nadal fell to 41-13 in 2015 (10-5 on hard courts). The Spaniard has won a Masters 1000 title in each of the last ten seasons, but he has yet to manage one in his first six chances of the season. Nadal will only have three more opportunities in 2015, with Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris still on the schedule.
Nishikori will face either Andy Murray or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Saturday’s semifinals.
Novak Djokovic will face Jeremy Chardy in the top half semi.