Nishikori Passes Novikov Test In Toronto

Third seed Kei Nishikori kicked off his summer hard court campaign in style on Wednesday at the Rogers Cup, moving into the third round with a win over qualifier Dennis Novikov, 6-4, 7-5.

“I thought it was a good match, good enough for the first match since Wimbledon,” said Nishikori. “I knew I was going to get ups-and-downs because I haven’t played matches in a long time and I didn’t practise much the first couple of weeks after getting injured…but it was still a good, solid match today.”

Nishikori dropped just five points in racing out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, but Novikov fought back to level the set at 4-4. Just when it appeared the American might be on his way to an improbable comeback, Nishikori responded by breaking his opponent to lead 5-4 and then serving out the set.

Novikov continued to hang tough with his opponent, forcing Nishikori to serve to stay in the set at 4-5. But the third seed saved his best tennis for the end by breaking his opponent once more to lead 6-5 and then closing out the contest.

Next up for Nishikori is Rajeev Ram, who upset No. 13 seed Lucas Pouille, 6-4, 7-6(4). The American squandered two match points on his serve at 5-4 and couldn’t serve out the match again at 6-5, but made good in the tie-break on his fourth match point opportunity. 

Nishikori leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Ram 3-1, with all three wins coming on hard courts.

Kevin Anderson also moved into the third round after No. 6 seed Dominic Thiem was forced to retire due to a hip injury with Anderson leading 4-1 in the first set.