Kei Nishikori finished Alexander Zverev’s successful run in Monte Carlo: The Japanese defeated Germany’s number one in the semi-finals and will meet Rafael Nadal on Sunday.
Alexander Zverev failed at the ATP Masters Tournament in Monte Carlo in the semi-final against Kei Nishikori from Japan.
The German number one lost after a hard fight in two hours and 13 minutes with 6:3, 3:6, 4:6.
In the first set he served until 3-3, then Zverev was the first player to take a break, and he did not let go of his advantage. After 37 minutes the 21-year-old set the score at 6:3 with another break.
Both players had to walk the full distance the day before: Zverev against Richard Gasquet, Nishikori against Marin Cilic, against whom he lost his biggest match to date in the final of the US Open in 2014. Zverev had only been on the pitch once, the German Davis Cup player had won the game in Washington 2017 in two sets.
In the second set Zverev took three breaks, the decision was made in the tenth game of the third set.
Nishikori used his first match point on serve Zverev. The number 36 in the world rankings now meets the “King of Clay”, Rafael Nadal. Against the world number one Nishikori has a score of 2:9.
Here the single tableau in Monte Carlo