Kei Nishikori was two games away from capturing the biggest title of his career before back and hip problems that plagued him throughout the tournament flared up and eventually forced him to retire from the Mutua Madrid Open final against Rafael Nadal on Sunday evening. Nadal had battled back for a 2-6, 6-4, 3-0 lead when Nishikori called it quits after one hour and 42 minutes.
The in-form Japanese man previously got past Feliciano Lopez in the quarters and David Ferrer in the semis despite not being 100 percent physically. He needed two hours and 55 minutes to outlast Ferrer 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 on Saturday in what was unquestionably one of the most entertaining matches of the year. That slugfest could not have helped matters for Nishikori heading into the title showdown.
Still, the underdog broke at 1-1 and 3-1 to seize complete control of the opening set. He also broke for 1-0 in the second and consolidated his advantage soon after by recovering from a 0-40 deficit. With Nadal serving at 2-4, however, Nishikori’s injury problems became too great and he struggled to serve and even to move from that point forward.
Nishikori breaks for 2-1 in the first set with an incredible point:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9hwJngyzcs]
“It was very sad, especially (because) I was winning, playing almost best tennis in my life,” Nishikori lamented. “If I’m not hurt, I may have chance to win today.
“I had it from Feli’s match two matches before. Yesterday was fine, but after the match I was feeling (it) a lot. If you play three sets with a guy like David, you run a lot. It was very hard to wake up today. That 4‑2 game made (it) really bad. After that, I couldn’t really move.”
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Highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgRt5u8HDqw]
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