By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Kevin Anderson stormed through 11 straight games crushing Kei Nishikori, 6-0, 6-1, to take a big step toward securing a semifinal spot at the ATP Finals.
Photo credit: Nitto ATP Finals Facebook
Another flat forehand from Kevin Anderson buzzed by leaving Kei Nishikori flailing at air then offering a chagrined smile and thumbs-up at the futility of it all.
There is a time and place for everything.
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Anderson gave Nishikori no time to create and no place to operate transforming their third meeting in as many tournaments into overwhelming obliteration.
Storming through 11 straight games to open, Anderson crushed Nishikori, 6-0, 6-1, raising his round-robin record to 2-0 in his Nitto ATP Finals debut and virtually securing a semifinal spot in the season-ending event at the O2 Arena in London.
The fourth-seeded Anderson can make history as the first South African semifinalist in the tournament's 49-year history pending the outcome of tonight's clash between six-time champion Roger Federer and sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem.
If Thiem defeats Federer or if Federer beats Thiem in three sets, then the 32-year-old Anderson qualifies for a semifinal spot from the Lleyton Hewitt Group of the eight-man event.
An imposing Anderson served 78 percent, smacked 10 aces and permitted just five points on his first serve in a dynamic 64-minute demolition he called one of the best matches of his career. Anderson attained a milestone with his 47th victory of the season breaking his career-best win total of 46-24 set in 2015.
"It's one of the best I've ever played," Anderson told Annabel Croft afterward. "I knew I had to come out here and play a really good match against Kei. He's a world-class player.
"You're taking each game at a time and I found great rhythm from the start. I was really able to keep pressure on him the whole match. You wait a whole year to play a match like this. To do it here feels fantastic."
It was downright painful for a flat Nishikori, who experienced his own best of times and worst of times in the span of a couple of days. Nishikori showed impeccable timing and surprisingly sharp serve-and-volley skills sweeping Federer in his opener, but never had much say in rallies today.
Less than two weeks after Nishikori swept Anderson, 6-4, 6-4, in the Paris round of 16, the South African suffocated the 2014 US Open finalist using the slower surface to his advantage at times dancing around his two-hander to fire flame-thrower forehands.
Anderson came within one game of dispensing the second double bagel in tournament history and first since Federer swept Gaston Gaudio in a shutout shellacking at the 2005 year-end finals held in Houston.
When a flat Nishikori poked a forehand into net, Anderson had his third break point in the second game. Anderson attacked drawing a floating pass snatching the break in a seven-minute game that set the pattern for the match.
Anderson trashed Nishikori's second serve winning 17 of 27 points played on the second delivery and breaking five times in a row.
Nishikori possesses a sniper return, but touching Anderson's return was almost as rare as a Sasquatch sighting in the early stages.
Throwing down a 135 missile down the middle, Anderson rocketed five aces and won all seven of his first-serve points powering to a 3-0 lead.
The 6'8" South African slammed 13 aces and did not face a break point defeating Dominic Thiem in his round-robin opener. Equally impressive as his imposing serve was the fact Anderson won the majority of the rallies that spanned more than nine shots against the agile Austrian.
Winning a 10-shot rally against the nimble Nishikori gave Anderson double break point and when the 28-year-old Japanese dragged a forehand into the bottom of the net, Anderson had the double break for 4-0.
Through the first six games, Nishikori more than doubled Anderson's unforced error output—13 to 6—and missed the mark with his trademark two-hander to face a third set point.
Using every inch of his angular frame, Anderson flicked a full-stretch forehand return that danced off the tape and dropped in completing his first bagel since the 2015 Houston tournament.
Anderson served 80 percent and nearly doubled Nishikori's total points won (31 to 16) in rampaging through the 33-minute opener.
An unsightly 42 percent first-serve percentage plagued Nishikori. An even bigger issue was the ominous sound of Anderson hammering second serve returns—sometimes into the corners and sometimes straight back at Nishikori.
Struggling to fend off the onslaught, Nishikori pushed a backhand down the line deep dropping his fourth straight service game.
A fully-engaged Anderson stamped a love hold for his ninth consecutive game.
Sixty-one minutes into the match, Nishikori nudged an angled backhand winner denying the double bagel and drawing sympathetic applause from some fans. That was a brief reprieve as Anderson sealed a 64-minute shellacking.