Kei Nishikori continued his ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over lucky loser Ernests Gulbis during second-round action on Thursday night. The red-hot world No. 7 from Japan prevailed after one hour and 14 minutes of play.
Nishikori is joined in the quarterfinals by last week’s champions Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Daniil Medvedev. Tsonga, who triumphed in Montpellier, maintained his fine form by beating Dutch wild card Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(5), 6-1. The Frenchman converted his fifth set point in the opener before taking complete control with a break in the third game of the second.
“At the start I played well, but he played well too,” Tsonga said. “I need to keep holding my serve and have the patience to wait for a chance. I was not surprised by his level of play…. I stayed at the same level in the second set and he dropped a little bit. That was the difference.”
Next up for the 33-year-old is Medvedev, who is in even more blistering form. The 23-year-old Russian was a runner-up in Brisbane and he lifted the trophy this past week in Sofia. Medvedev resumed his winning ways with a 6-2, 7-5 defeat of Fernando Verdasco on Thursday afternoon.
“Fernando is a really great player and conditions are slow here, so to find a tactic to win points was difficult,” the No. 5 seed commented. “My goal was just to put the ball back in the court and I’m happy to have won.”
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Medwed on fire
Rotterdam one of the dullest tournaments,needs a few players on fire