Nishikori, Thiem stay hot with Madrid victories

Barcelona champion Kei Nishikori maintained his fine form with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ivan Dodig in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Monday afternoon. Nishikori improved to an incredible 23-4 on the season after one hour and 30 minutes of play.

The world No. 12 after his win, and a video he posted:
[tweet https://twitter.com/keinishikori/statuses/463321214170062849]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acZgM47Kj4w&app=desktop]

Dominic Thiem also stayed hot by winning his first match in the main draw 6-4, 6-2 over a less-than-100 percent Dmitry Tursunov. Thiem previously went through successful qualification for the seventh time already this year. The fast-rising Austrian held all nine of his service games to set up a showdown against world No. 3 Stanislas Wawrinka.

“6:4, 6:2 against Dimitry Tursunov,” Thiem posted on Facebook. “Just had to save one break point. I already played solid from the baseline for the last few weeks. And the return improved as well. But I am so happy with my serve right now. I can serve fast but can mix it up too. It has become an effective tool lately. I beat three top 100 players in three days here for the first time ever. And now I get the coolest reward ever: playing Stan Wawrinka, the number one in the ATP race. Against the best player of the year on a big court – can you imagine anything better?”

Wawrinka on the upcoming match:
[tweet https://twitter.com/stanwawrinka/statuses/463364971335008256]

John Isner, the only American man in the entire draw, got past an in-form Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6(8), 6-4 in one hour and 45 minutes. Isner served at 79 percent, struck 14 aces to just one double-fault, and saved both of the break points he faced late in the first set. The 10th-ranked American missed six break points of his own in the opener before converting the lone opportunity either man had in the second.

“For me, it’s all about how I do outside of the United States,” Isner explained. “I need to do better and I’m off to a good start. I feel like I competed very well out there and on top of that I felt like I played well from start to finish. I played really well in the first set; had a lot of chances, but I just didn’t capitalize on them. I was able to win a super-close tiebreak. I served extremely well. When I serve like that, I’m very tough to beat.”