Kei Nishikori: I'm playing my best tennis of the year

Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori was happy to be through to the Toronto Masters second round. 

Nishikori, a former world No. 4, overcame rising Serbian star Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-2 to reach the Toronto second round.

"I am happy to go through," Nishikori said, per the ATP website. "He played really well in the second set, it was really tough. I knew it was not going to be easy [for him] to play at that level throughout the second and third set, so I waited for him to drop his level a little bit. I just tried to stay focused.

"I am feeling pretty good. I think I am playing my best tennis of the year in the past couple of tournaments. I am happy with my result last week and I also did well at the Olympics."

Nishikori came up big in the third set 

Nishikori claimed the first break of the match in the fifth game and then held on to his serve the rest of the set to win the opener. 

After losing the first set, Kecmanovic bounced back at the start of the second set as he took an early 2-0 lead. 

However, his lead was short-lived as Nishikori broke back immediately in the third game. 

As no more breaks were seen -- the set went into a tie-break -- in which Kecmanovic realized his first set point to force a decider. 

However, losing a tight decider didn't affect Nishikori, who claimed three breaks and lost his serve once in the third set to claim a three-set win. 

Last week, Nishikori spoke about feeling comfortable again. 

"Feel like I can play that long rallies without errors in forehand nor backhand for the first time since I came back from wrist injury," Nishikori said, per Seiadoumogera/Twitter. "Earlier this year I said I kind of got back on form little bit, but this time, ball fits comfortably in my hand, I can make shots without thinking anything and have subtle feelings, like, can recognize opponent's lob is just out even when I'm standing close to the net."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3AA7kYH