Biggest Slam Upsets Of 2015: Part 2

Continuing our Season In Review Series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the biggest Grand Slam upsets of 2015. In today’s countdown we feature Nos. 2-1:

2. Benoit Paire d. Kei Nishikori 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4/R128/US Open

The accolades, the praise kept coming. Long a highly touted prospect, Kei Nishikori’s grip-and-rip game had finally come together on the biggest of stages. The tireless baseliner and dogged competitor had broken through at the Slams, reaching the title tilt at the 2014 US Open, where he would come up just short against Croat Marin Cilic. Though the modest Japanese star would insist that his spot amongst the Top 5 in the Emirates ATP Rankings was “just a number,” it was clear he had earned it and was here to stay.

Roger Federer called the Japanese star “very solid, very consistent, very dangerous,” adding, “Doesn’t matter what the score is, doesn’t matter how long the match goes, you’re aware that Kei is not going to go away.”

Said Aussie Bernard Tomic, “If I played Kei 10 times, I could beat him once, twice right now.”

So expectations were understandably high when the 25-year-old returned to Flushing Meadows, site of some of the greatest moments of his career. The reigning runner-up had enjoyed a stellar summer hard-court swing, lifting the trophy in Washington (d. John Isner) before beating Rafael Nadal en route to the Montreal semi-finals (l. to Andy Murray).

Having dropped the first set, Nishikori seemed poised for victory as he turned the score line around and held two match points at 6-4 in the fourth-set tie-break. However, he pushed a forehand wide on his first opportunity on serve and was denied on his second on Benoit Paire’s serve. The Frenchman then clinched his first set point chance when Nishikori netted a backhand.

Paire, 26, secured an early break advantage in the fifth set and went on to close out the victory in three hours and 14 minutes. It was only the World No. 41’s third career Top-10 win and his first over a Top-5 opponent.

The last US Open runner-up to lose the following year in the first round was Andre Agassi, who was beaten by Aaron Krickstein in 1991 after falling to Pete Sampras in the 1990 final.

“When I saw the draw against Kei, I said, ‘Bad luck. You play Kei in the first round, he made final last year.’ [But] you have to find pleasure in this match. You have to feel good on the court, to have fun. You’re going to play on a big court, in a big stadium. My coach told me the most important thing is when you go out of the court, you win, you lose, you don’t care, just have fun.”

“It’s always very sad to lose in the first round,” said Nishikori. “I don’t think I played badly. Didn’t play great, but still, it’s never an easy first match. He’s a good player. I hope I can come back strong next year.”

1. Andreas Seppi d. Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5)/R32/Australian Open

In their 10 previous encounters, Andreas Seppi had claimed a total of just one set against Roger Federer. So there was little reason to expect anything out of the ordinary when they took the court for their third-round contest at the Australian Open on January 23.

So when the 48^th-ranked Seppi won a pair of tight tie-breaks to pull off a 6-4, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5) upset, ending Federer’s run off 11 straight years of semi-final or better showings in Melbourne, even the Italian was in shock.

“To beat Roger for the first time, especially in a Grand Slam, best-of-five, is a special moment for me,” said Seppi, who snapped a 23-match losing streak against Top-10 competition. “You don’t play every day on centre court, full stadium in a Grand Slam against Roger. I was pretty calm, I have to say, from the beginning. Also in the important moments.”

Perhaps the most important moment came in the fourth-set tie-break.  Up 3-1 in the stanza, Federer double faulted. He would have another chance to serve it out at 5-4, but the Swiss made a costly backhand error. Seppi would take full advantage, completing the against-all-odds triumph in stunning fashion with a forehand pass down the line. The ATP World Tour veteran would call it one of the important shots of his life.

One of the most important shots, but surely the most important win. Seppi had defeated Rafael Nadal in 2008 when the Spaniard was the World No. 2, but his win over Federer in Melbourne had come on a Grand Slam stage.

“I felt for some reason yesterday and this morning it was not going to be very simple today,” said Federer. “Even in practice I still felt the same way. I was just hoping it was one of those feelings you sometimes have and it’s totally not true and you just come out and you play a routine match. I was aware of the test and was well prepared.”

Federer would register three wins over Seppi before the year was over (Indian Wells, Halle, Paris), making the Australian Open result even more puzzling.