By Chris Oddo | Thursday, June 18, 2015
Kei Nishikori broke open a close match with Dustin Brown to cruise to a convincing victory on Thursday in Halle.
Photo Source: AFP
Surfaces change this time of year, but Kei Nishikori remains a picture of consistency—and dominance—whether on hard, clay or grass. The second seed broke open a close tussle with German Dustin Brown to reach his 10th quarterfinal in 11 events this season, 7-5, 6-1, on Thursday at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle.
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“I’m very satisfied with my performance today. It’s not easy to play Dustin and I did that very well today.” Nishikori said after the match.
After going toe-to-toe with Brown for the first ten games, Nishikori took advantage of some loose play from the German to claim the break.
He needed three set points to consolidate, but once he did, the world No. 5 was off to the races.
Nishikori would finish with 26 winners against 8 unforced errors, saving the only break point he faced.
“From this time on, he returned tremendously and gave me practically no chance to play Serve and Volley – that was his success in the first set,” said Brown. “He was getting more aggressive and played an extremely stable game.”
Nishikori’s victory sets up a quarterfinal against the hard-serving Jerzy Janowicz. The Pole, a former Wimbledon semifinalist, edged Alejandro Falla in three, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
Nishikori and Janowicz have not met before at the ATP level.
In other Thursday action on the Halle grass, Andreas Seppi defeated Tommy Robredo, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3, and will face the winner or today’s match between Gael Monfils and Mikhail Kukushkin.