Tomic Sends Nishikori Packing

Bernard Tomic is through to his first Western & Southern Open quarter-final with his second upset in as many matches, taking down No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori on Thursday. The unseeded Australian prevailed against the top-ranked Japanese player 7-6(1), 7-6(5), having downed No. 11 seed David Goffin in the previous round.

The win levels the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head record at 2-2 after Tomic had beaten Nishikori in the quarter-finals on home turf in Brisbane to start the season. He will next meet either top seed Andy Murray or South Africa’s Kevin Anderson for a place in the semi-finals.

Tomic sent down 10 aces and claimed 76 per cent of first-serve points in the near two-hour display. Nishikori was unable to carry the momentum of a break at 3-2 in the opening set, letting two set points slip serving for it at 5-4. Tomic, too, had a set point at 6-5 on the No. 5 seed’s serve before the tie-break was forced. The Aussie made good on his second chance, reeling off the last five points of the tie-break.

Again in the second set, Tomic was forced to hang tough. Serving to stay in the set at 4-5, he saved three set points to level and would close out the match on his second match point in the tie-break.