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Nishikori wins to keep World Tour final hopes alive

by Michael McCann

Kei Nishikori defeated Tomas Berdych 7-5 3-6 6-3 yesterday to keep his chance of winning this week’s ATP World Tour Finals alive.

Berdych and Nishikori both knew that realistically only a first win of the tournament would aid qualification from the pool stages in this round-robin format.

Both men suffered straight sets defeats in their opening matches, Berdych to Roger Federer and Nishikori dispatched by Novak Djokovic.

Nishikori had won three of his four previous encounters against Berdych, and though their last meeting came back in 2012 that pattern appeared to be continuing here, as the 25 year-old sealed the opening set.

The match remained on serve until 5-5, but the Czech was then broken when attempting to secure at least a tie-break before Nishikori held to seal the set 7-5.

The Japanese player won 87 per cent of first serve points in that set, compared to just 50 per cent in the second, where the poor serving seen when losing to Djokovic returned.

Nishikori admitted he may not be 100 per cent physically fit for this tournament and that was evident here, as Berdych came back from 2-1 down to win the second set 6-3.

The 25 year-old had broken the Czech in the opening game, but Berdych broke back twice in succession to level at one set each.

As the match progressed Berdych showed his superior power, despite losing all three previous matches with Nishikori on these slower hard courts.

Berdych won 30 of the 49 second-set points but then had to save multiple break points in his opening service game of the decider that followed.

The final set saw both players struggle on serve before eventually Nishikori prevailed  to claim his maiden victory this week.

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