By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Andy Murray wore down Kei Nishikori, 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4, in three hours, 20 minutes to raise his round-robin record to 2-0 at the World Tour Finals.
Photo credit: Ashley Western/CameraSport
Heavy grunts propelled Andy Murray's fast footsteps as he raced forward for another drop shot fluttering from Kei Nishikori's racquet.
Time and time again, Nishikori sent Murray chasing into obscure corners of the court creating openings only to bungle the advantage with floating drop shots.
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It was a costly compulsion. Trying to shorten points, Nishikori played himself into a long day of frustration.
Barking at himself and churning his legs after every ball, a stubborn Murray grinded through a 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4 World Tour Finals victory over Nishikori in a draining three hours, 20 minutes—the longest singles match played at the O2 Arena.
The world No. 1 fought off nine of 11 break points and sometimes baited the fifth seed into mistakes.
It was Murray's 21st consecutive victory as he avenged a five-set loss to Nishikori in the US Open quarterfinals. Murray has won eight of their 10 encounters.
Continuing his quest to clinch the year-end No. 1 ranking for the first time, Murray moved closer toward sewing up a semifinal spot in London.
If Marin Cilic defeats Stan Wawrinka in today's second match, Murray will join four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Murray swept the seventh-seeded Cilic, 6-3, 6-2, in his opener on Monday.
If Nishikori views video of this match, he'll see he did so much right in opening the court only to fall prey to wrong choices trying to close points.
Commanding the center of the court and moving Murray side-to-side at times, Nishikori played beautiful ball-control combinations at times. But his mind-numbing penchant for playing the dropper, rather than driving the ball into the corners, sometimes gave Murray an escape route back into the point.
A battle of two of the best movers who possess two of the most dangerous two-handed backhands in the game got off to an unsettled start as both men showed signs of stress.
The top seed snarled at his box after some misses, while Nishikori's forehand failed him at times in the early stages. Nishikori earned a break point in both the third and fifth games, but couldn't connect on forehands. Swinging with a hint of hostility, Murray unleashed a 133 mph serve winner withstanding the test for 3-2.
Nishikori created opportunities earning break points in three of the Scot's first six service games. But the Olympic bronze medal wasn't striking with the precision nor moving with the urgency he showed in his 6-2, 6-3 win over Wawrinka in his round-robin opener.
When Murray floated a backhand approach beyond the baseline, Nishikori had his third break point of the set and a look at a second serve. Rather than stepping in, the Japanese was dragged into a 16-shot rally that ended with Nishikori netting a backhand down the line. Murray held for 6-5.
Serving to force the tie break at 30-all, Nishikori knocked a shot into net to face set point. Murray dragged his opponent wide with a crosscourt forehand, but netted the kill shot trying to drive his forehand down the line.
A topsy-turvy tie break saw Nishikori slide an inside-out forehand for triple set point at 6-3, but he misfired on a forehand failing to convert his first set point.
Murray snapped a forehand winner to save the second set point. On the third, Nishikori ran down a drop shot and had his favored two-handed backhand lined up. He swatted the shot crosscourt. But Murray was off and running and blocked a flying one-handed backhand stab back into play denying the third set point with thrilling improvisation.
Nishikori fought off two more set points in the breaker, including a double smash effort for 9-all. Nishikori converted his fifth set point when Murray scattered a forehand wide, concluding a nervous 85-minute set.
Shaking off a nearly 18-minute tiebreak, Murray looped a lob for double break point to open the second set and broke when a Nishikori forehand ricocheted off the tape and landed long.
A sloppy start to the eighth game saw Murray hit himself into a double break-point bind. A flying high forehand volley erased the first break point, but Nishikori bulleted a crosscourt backhand pass breaking back for 4-all precisely two hours into the match.
Rarely do you see Murray tormented by drop shots. Nishikori worked the dropper effectively on occasion, including a diabolical drop shot-lob combination in the ninth game. But he indulged in the soft stuff too often and was punished for a poor forehand dropper that sat up. Murray swooped in for a backhand that helped him break for 5-4.
Serving for the set, Murray denied two break points and leveled the match after two hours, 18 minutes on a Nishikori forehand error.
Two double faults and another failed drop shot put Nishikori to the break-point test. The net was Murray's ally. A backhand pass clipped the tape and sprang over Nishikori's racquet for a second break point. Nishikori net-cord shot catapulted long as Murray broke for 2-1. He saved break points to back up the break.
An increasingly frustrated Nishikori squandered a lead in the next game then double-faulted to gift a double-break, 4-1 lead to the top seed.
That second break was key as Murray double-faulted away the break serving for the match at 5-2. Murray served it out on his second attempt raising his record to 75-9 on the season with more to come.