Australian Open: Kei Nishikori retires, sending Novak Djokovic into semis
The world no. 1 Novak Djokovic has moved two wins away from the record-breaking seventh Australian Open title following a quick 6-1, 4-1 win over the 8th seed Kei Nishikori who was forced to retire after the fifth game of the second set due to a right thigh injury. This was the 15th straight win for Novak over Kei since that terrible semi-final loss at the US Open in 2014 and he has become only the fourth player with seven Australian Open semi-final appearances after Roger Federer, Stefan Edberg and Ivan Lendl. Also, the Serb is through to his 34th Grand Slam semi-final overall, moving three clear from Jimmy Connors and four from Rafael Nadal whom he could meet here in the final if he beats Lucas Pouille on Friday.
Novak didn't have to work hard to earn the 263rd Grand Slam win and it was clear Nishikori will struggle big time in this match after spending more than five hours on the court against Pablo Carreno Busta in the fourth round two days ago, unable to recover and give his best against the toughest possible opponent. Novak lost just three points on serve in six service games and he was all over Kei on the return as well, taking half of the points behind the Japanese's serve and converting all four break chances to forge a massive 6-1, 4-1 lead before Kei decided he has had enough.
Djokovic broke in the second game of the match after a backhand error from Nishikori who struggled to move like he would have wanted and who got broke again in game six to send Novak 5-1 up. Novak held at love in the following game to secure the opener in 31 minutes and Kei received a medical timeout between two sets but that couldn't help him, losing serve at love in game three after a weak forehand and deciding to stop his misery after the fifth game when he gave his serve away for the fourth time after another groundstroke error.
Quarter-final result:
[1]Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Kei Nishikori (JPN) 6-1 4-1 Ret.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2T7MZoz
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