Kei Nishikori fought off five match points before outlasting Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) in a semifinal thriller at the Miami Open on Thursday. Nishikori withstood 14 aces off the Monfils racket and overcame six double-faults of his own to triumph in two hours and 29 minutes.
The high-quality roller-coaster ride saw Monfils recover from a break deficit in the final set. With momentum in hand, the world No. 16 put himself within one point of victory on five different occasions. He came close to converting his fourth chance when he tracked down a drop-shot and flicked it cross-court, but Nishikori responded with a winning volley.
“I felt good,” Monfils said when asked about the physical struggle of the third set. “I think I had to raise a bit my level to [hold] my serve at 1-3. Then I think at 3-4 I really raised my level. I think I [started] to be very aggressive, [started] to go for it, and still had the strong feeling that I can make it. At the end, I think I pushed very hard. Then definitely I [had] opportunity it close it out, but actually Kei played strong. He fought well. I think in the ‘breaker he was just better than me.”
It almost, of course, never got to a tiebreaker. Of Monfils’ five match points, four came with Nishikori serving at 4-5 and the last one at 5-6.
“Well, the first one [was] a good serve,” the Frenchman commented. “Then the second one I [stepped] in, second serve. I [went] aggressive wide and I [missed] maybe (by) 30 or 40 centimeters. Then the third one; second serve. I didn’t go for it so much. I [went] in between, and then he had a very good forehand behind me. Then I think the last one is the one I thought I had…the drop-shot. I think actually this one was the closest one I had.”
“The match could [have gone] both ways,” Nishikori explained. “I was up a break and I had many [chances] to break again. I just [trired] to focus when I lost the game for 4-all. The tiebreak I was [trying] to be [focused] again. Yeah, did pretty good in (the) tiebreak.”
Next up for the world No. 6 is a second career showdown against Kyrgios, whom Nishikori beat 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 last fall at the Shanghai Masters.
Kyrgios punched a ticket to his first-ever Masters 1000 semifinal by taking out Indian Wells runner-up Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6(4) on Thursday night. The 20-year-old Australian cracked eight aces and saved all five of the break points he faced.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Kyrgios noted. “Milos has played great the last couple of weeks; the only person he’s lost to is (Novak) Djokovic. I played really well out here. The crowd was a lot of fun; the atmosphere was really good. I thought the level of tennis was pretty good, as well.”
Photos courtesy of Miami Tennis News
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who ya got?
I have Kei beating Monfils and Nick beating Raonic.
Me too..?
Nick reminds me a lot of “The Donald”. Similar scenario.
Young?
hahaha
Duck?
Dell?
GOP doesn’t want Trump. ATP doesn’t want Kyrgios. Both not PC enough.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
GOP and PC in the same sentence. Too funny.
Actually it was 3 sentences but who’s counting? Let me rephrase it. USA dreading a Trump presidency and ATP dreading Kyrgios being it’s #1 player. Both too controversial.
If I was counting, it’s two sentences.
Controversial isn’t the word. Self-destructive is more accurate.
I agree with Nick’s take on the match! It was a pretty good one…
Nick is in the zone! He can only get better from here! It’s not going to be easy against a hard working Japanese. The playing styles are completely different…
The crowd getting behind young controversial Australian means volume for Nick’s attitude on court. He so much wants to be liked and constantly seeks attention…this may be his time to regroup and act in a more matured way! I wish he would!
Nick for the win!
Nick FTW. Sorry Kei. We want Nole/Nick final!
Nick will need that serve. The one that got him through Pospisil, Gabashvili, Gasquet, Cilic and Berdych to win Marseille. I had to look at the draws again in Dubai and Marseille. Straight set wins over Berdych in both places. The other wins were Kukushkin and Klizan in Dubai. None of those guys listed are the caliber of mentally tough that Nick will face in Kei. It’s an evening match which seemed to work well for Kei in his decimation of Bautista-Agut. Really I doubt the time of day matters. Kei clearly remembered how to beat RBA and had no trouble executing.
I’ve never seen Kei get put off by crowds cheering for an opponent. Kei is the opposite of Nick that way – he doesn’t look for attention at all.
When they played in Shanghai last fall Kei lost the first set to Nick 1-6, then won 6-4, 6-4. It will interesting to see how this goes! It’s a match between a long-time favorite and a new one.
Vika/Angie match has turned into a real battle. Ah, Angie…lost serve. Vika will serve for the match. Omg. these two pull out the best in each other!
I think it should be a great match between Nik and Nishi. Even in the evening it will still be hot and humid. It doesn’t cool off in Florida. But it’s still better than the daytime.
Nishi is the opposite of Nik in his attitude. I just hope that Nishi has something left in the tank for this one. I think Nik will be feeling sky high with confidence, but Nishi is dangerous when he’s on his game.
so was Milos
Milos had somethin’ extra going on confidence-wise in AO before getting injured. Didn’t see that in this match. Kei was impressive – granted, Monfils does not have the swagger that Nick has. And Nick will be even more full of himself …hopefully.
Kei might be toast in the morning. But I underestimated him too much already this week.
The more I think about it, I can’t wait for Kei v Nick!
No. Milos was far from on his game. Serve didn’t have the same pop and waaay too many UEs.
As predicted.