Nishikori Routs Chardy To Return To Brisbane Final

Kei Nishikori beat Jeremy Chardy for the sixth consecutive time on Saturday to reach his second Brisbane International final 6-2, 6-2. The second seed rushed the big-hitting Frenchman, who never looked comfortable against Nishikori’s attacking style, hitting 26 unforced errors to only eight from Nishikori.

Chardy’s serve and free-swinging forehand carried him to his second semi-final since June, a run that included a three-set win against 2018 champion Nick Kyrgios. But Nishikori absorbed the Frenchman’s pace and retrieved everything Chardy threw back. Nishikori broke in the fifth and seventh game in the opener, and followed the same pattern to advance in just over an hour.

The Japanese right-hander will play either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France or Russian Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final. Nishikori has lost nine straight ATP Tour finals and has played 51 events since his 11^th and most recent trophy in Memphis in 2016 (d. Fritz).

He leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Tsonga 5-3. Nishikori and Medvedev split their two FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, with the Russian winning their most recent contest last year in the Tokyo final.