Two of men’s tennis’ former rising stars shone brightly on quarterfinals day in Brisbane, as third seed Kei Nishikori rolled over Jordan Thompson and Grigor Dimitrov fought past Dominic Thiem. Nishikori and Dimitrov will face the top two seeds on Saturday.
It was a day of revival for two of the ATP’s former rising stars, as Japanese third seed Kei Nishikori and Bulgarian seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov reached the last four at the Brisbane International. Nishikori, a runner-up at the 2014 U.S. Open, the dominated proceedings against Australian youngster Jordan Thompson, breezing to a 6-1, 6-1 victory. It was a very different story for Dimitrov, though, with the Bulgarian battling his way to a hard-fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over fourth seed Dominic Thiem to reach his second semifinal in Brisbane.
For Nishikori, it was an ideal start after a tough go-around in the second round against Jared Donaldson. He broke serve in the opening game of the match before consolidating it for 2-0. The world No. 5 took another break for 4-1 and it was plain sailing from that point forward. Thompson, 22, held serve once in the second set at 0-3 but never showed any signs of mounting a comeback.
A much more competitive Dimitrov-Thiem match began well for the Bulgarian, who fought off two early break points before snagging a break of serve for a quick 2-0 lead. The seventh seed consolidated his advantage to go up 3-0 and both players held the rest of the way, Thiem unable to break back.
The second set was an even tighter affair, with both players firmly in rhythm on serve and holding with ease. Thiem failed to convert either of two break points at 2-1, but he came up clutch when it mattered most with a break at 5-4 to force a decider.
Despite Thiem’s improved level in the second, Dimitrov never panicked and upped his game once again in the third. The pair exchanged two holds of serve each to bring the set to 2-2 before Dimitrov broke through to take a pivotal 3-2 lead. The No. 7 seed fended off two break points for a 4-2 advantage before closing out things in style with a break at 5-3.
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