Nishikori sets sights on No. 3 ranking after World Tour Finals win over Wawrinka

Kei Nishikori avenged his painful loss to Stan Wawrinka in the U.S. Open semifinals when he routed the third-ranked player in the world 6-2, 6-3 in a round-robin match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Monday afternoon.

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In their previous meeting, Wawrinka denied Nishikori what would have been a second Grand Slam final appearance (the Japanese star previously reached the U.S. Open title match in 2014). Nishikori’s amazing display at London’s O2 Arena on Monday should not have shocked anyone, and the result was also not surprising given the current from of the world No. 3. After all, Wawrinka had suffered a string of losses since winning the U.S. Open.

In a tricky World Tour Finals group that also includes world No. 1 Andy Murray and recent Basel champion Marin Cilic, Nishikori is making things interesting at tennis’ final event of the season. He will face Murray on Wednesday, with the winner to take complete control of Group A. Each match is critical, too, in Nishikori’s bid to surpass Wawrinka at No. 3 in the world. He was 410 points behind the Swiss prior to this week and is now only 210 points short thanks to gaining 200 with Monday’s victory. A win over Murray and a Wawrinka loss to Cilic would make the difference just 10 points.

“I’m not thinking too much about rankings,” Nishikori said, “but (it) would be nice if I could finish 4 or 3. I see (a) good chance to be there if I can play good this week. That’s one of my goals this week. Also next year I hope I can stay No. 4 or No. 3 (and) try to catch up to Andy and [Novak Djokovic].”

Nishikori, who is based in Florida, added that he was confident going into his showdown against Wawrinka even though his opponent has reached the semifinals of the World Tour Finals each of the last three years. The three-time major winner also led the head-to-head series 4-2 prior to Monday.

After a tight start, Nishikori seized momentum in the fifth game by making Wawrinka pay for some sloppy play. Nishikori broke serve with a huge forehand and earned another important break for 5-2 before serving out the opening set with minimal fuss. As Wawrinka’s number of unforced errors continued to grow, Nishikori pulled away by breaking again in the fifth game of the second set.

The routine scoreline in Nishikori’s favor may seem surprising given that Wawrinka beat Nishikori at this summer’s U.S. Open. But no performance from Japan’s best player should come as a shock because of how he has played from start to finish this season, and more of the same could carry him all the way to a new career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world.

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