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By Chris Oddo | Sunday, May 31, 2015

 
Kei Nishikori, Roland Garros 2015

Kei Nishikori rolled past Teymuraz Gabashvili on Day 8 to reach his first career French Open quarterfinal.

Photo Source: Kenzo Tribouillard/ AFP

Kei Nishikori powered his way into the French Open quarterfinals on Day 8 with his tried and true gameplan. Hit ‘em fast, hit ‘em hard, hit ‘em often.

More: Tsonga Bounces Berdych on Chatrier

The 5th-seed smashed 40 winners against Russian’s Teymuraz Gabashvili to cement his place in the quarterfinals, becoming Japan’s first to reach the last eight in Paris since Jiri Sato did so in 1931 and 1933.

The 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 triumph sets up a clash with France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Nishikori owns a 4-1 edge against the Frenchman, but they have never met on clay. “He was injured and he came back now and he's coming back very strong,” Nishikori said. “You know, he has a big serve, big forehand. He's always a dangerous player. He's the top-10 player, I think. So it's going to be fun match.”

Nishikori improves to 13-2 on the clay this season, continuing the general uptrend that has seen him go from little consideration on the surface to being regarded as one of the players besides Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic with a shot to win the title.

Today his opponent, despite some great shotmaking in spurts, was no match for Nishikori’s ground attack. After falling a double-break down in the second set, Gabashvili notched a break to get to 5-3 and flashed a wry smile to his box as if to say ‘Nishikori’s human after all.’

But Nishikori would pick up his game to cruise to the finish, putting an end to proceedings in a crisp one hour and 45 minutes.

“I knew I can do this because I was doing well [on clay], starting last year,” he said. “I hope it's just the start of my journey, and I hope I can keep going. Yeah, this is first time to be quarterfinal in French Open, so it means a lot for me.”

Following Nishikori’s match on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Stan Wawrinka took the court and raced past Gilles Simon in similar fashion. Wawrinka’s 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory sets up a potential all-Swiss quarterfinal at Roland Garros, as Wawrinka will face either Roger Federer or Gael Monfils next.

“It was perfect,” said Wawrinka. “I'm really happy to have won the match. I was expecting a tough match. Never easy to play Gilles, especially in Grand Slams especially when you advance in the tournament. Condition was really slow with the rain and everything, but I did a really good match.”

 

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