By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, October 29, 2016
Kei Nishikori saved two match points and withstood 20 aces from Gilles Muller in a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 triumph that sent him into the Basel final.
Photo credit: Beelde Images/ Daniel Huerlimann
Bidding for his first Basel final, Gilles Muller had Kei Nishikori right where he wanted him.
Holding a one-set, 5-4 lead, Muller earned a pair of match points and was poised for his first Top 5 win in more than eight years.
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Nishikori nullified the threat playing over Muller's head.
The third seed saved the first match point with a gorgeous forehand lob and zapped an ace to save the second. Nishikori withstood 20 aces rallying past Muller, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, to advance to his 20th career final at the Swiss Indoors.
The 2011 Basel runner-up will face fourth-seeded Marin Cilic, who beat Nishikori in the 2014 US Open final, in tomorrow's final.
Cilic battled past serve-and-volley maven Mischa Zverev in three sets, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, to move ahead of Tomas Berdych in the Race to London standings by twenty points. Cilic can increase his lead over Berdych, David Goffin and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga by 200 points with a win in the final.
Tsonga will play the Vienna final on Sunday, and is currently 530 points behind Cilic.
Next week in Paris could be very interesting, particularly if Tsonga can win in Vienna.
Nishikori raced out to a 3-1 lead as Muller tried to battle the quicker Japanese from the baseline.
Changing his tactics and employing his attacking style midway through the set, Muller broke for 3-4 sparking a run of four consecutive games to seize a one-set lead.
Serving at 4-5 in the second set, Nishikori lofted that lob winner to save the first match point.
The world No. 5 caught Muller leaning the wrong way as he slid an ace out wide to erase the second match point.
In the tie break, Nishikori picked on the left-hander's forehand. A cluster of forehand errors gave Nishikori set points at 6-2. Muller pounded an ace to save the first set point.
On set point number two, Nishikori attacked net and knifed a sharp-angled backhand volley winner to seize the set.
A disconsolate Muller, who saved match point squeezing out a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Federico Delbonis in the quarterfinals, began to tire a bit in the decider.
Nishikori cracked a backhand pass down the line converting the lone break point of the final set. Nishikori advanced to his fifth final of the season and will try to win his first title since beating Taylor Fritz to win his fourth Memphis championship in February.