Confident about his game, Kei Nishikori thinks positive after Medvedev loss
The 23-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev has already mastered the hard courts, scoring the most wins on the Tour in 2018 on the dominant surface and marching towards the place in the top-10. On the other hand, the youngster was yet to find his 'A game' on clay, struggling to make an impression on the slowest surface before 2019 and heading to Monte Carlo with just two ATP wins on dirt. That all changed in the Principality, though, toppling world no. 1 Novak Djokovic and reaching the semi-final, his first at Masters 1000 series, losing to Dusan Lajovic in the battle for the final despite a great start.
The Moscow native has changed that this week in Barcelona, playing on a high level for the second straight tournament and advancing into the seventh ATP final with a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 triumph over the two-time champion Kei Nishikori in two hours and 24 minutes. This was their fourth match and the second win for the younger rival who saved three out of five break points and grabbed three breaks from seven chances to cross the finish line first and set the final clash against Rafael Nadal or Dominic Thiem. They had a similar number of winners and errors and only five points separated them at the end of the encounter, with both doing their best to impose the groundstrokes before the rival and finish the points on won terms.
Nishikori delivered four holds at 15 in the opening set but also one loose service game that cost him the game after a backhand unforced error, sending Medvedev in front before creating a break chance at 4-5 when the Russian served for the opener. Daniil saved it with a solid attack and clinched the set with an ace down the T line for a 6-4 after 37 minutes. The second set brought small-margin battle as well and it was Kei who fended off a break point in the first game to avoid an even bigger deficit, delivering four good holds after that and breaking Medvedev in game eight with a smash winner that pushed him 5-3 up.
Nishikori wrapped up the set with a drop shot winner in the following game and had the momentum before the start of the decider where he broke in the opening game of the final set after a forehand error from Daniil who smashed racquet in anger. The Russian pulled the break back in game four when the Japanese hit a backhand long, wasting three more break chances in game six before erasing a break point at 4-4 with a service winner that turned out to be one of the crucial shots of the match. Serving at 5-6, Nishikori squandered a game point and Daniil was there to punish him, scoring a critical break when Kei netted a forehand to secure the place in the first ATP final on clay.
"In comparison to our previous matches, Daniil has improved defense a lot, he is getting many balls back and it is not easy to hit winners. At the same time, he was very aggressive too and prevailed in the crucial moments to take the win. I wasn't too concerned about losing the break in the decider because I knew he is going to play better again and that it will not be easy to hold my serve until the end. I made some mistakes in that fourth game to give him the break but all credits to Daniil, he played well. Overall, I'm happy with the way I played this week, even today I played some good tennis and I feel confident ahead of two big tournaments in Madrid and Rome.
I wished I could have played in the final here but will take a few days rest and start Madrid preparations. I was trying to be aggressive in the first set and then we engaged some longer rallies where I also had success but it wasn't enough in the end as he played on a high level."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2XRXazy
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