Kei Nishikori reaches the semi-finals of the US Open. In a new edition of the 2014 final, the Japanese defeated the Croatian Marin Cilic 2:6, 6:4, 7:6 (5), 4:6 and 6:4.
Cilic started furiously in difficult external conditions and Nishikori immediately lost the serve to 3:1. While the Croatian dominated with his powerful basic strokes, the Japanese player did not find his way into the match at all.
This trend should continue in the further course of the first sentence. With another break to 6:2 Cilic secured the first round.
Cilic was also the better player in the second set. With a 4:2 break, the 29-year-old seemed to be turning onto the road to victory. But Nishikori did not get off the ground and immediately took the Croatian off the serve.
The much quoted momentum was now completely on the Japanese side, after three games in a row he still grabbed the set. At that time, only 85 minutes had been played. The game was not yet world-class.
Nishikori took the momentum from the second set and immediately broke to 1-0, especially Cilic’s forehand was extremely error-prone and only after six games lost in a row to 1:2 in the third set could he write.
This game win seemed to inspire the US Open winner of 2014: In the following game Cilic developed a break opportunity, which he could not use. But he didn’t get up and took two break points at 2:3 from his point of view. Nishikori countered again and took the lead 4:2.
Both players seemed to suffer under the conditions – the level was accordingly not exactly high. Return errors followed inexplicable mishits.
Despite the deficit, Cilic was the better player. This should soon be reflected in the scoreboard: Nishikori lost the 4:4 serve to zero. After that, the tiebreak was played after sovereign service games of both players.
After each minibreak the sides were changed at the score of 3:3. Cilic took the lead 4:3 and then had two serves. With two double mistakes he gave the advantage – now Nishikori had the advantage on his side. At least one set ball could be won by the world rank nineteenth. He used it with a wonderful backhand winner.
After a ten-minute heat interruption, Nishikori defused two break opportunities for the Croatian at 1:1. In the middle of the fourth period, Cilic had another chance to break the 28-year-old’s serve. This time he also made it: The Croatian was leading 4:3.
Then Cilic served solid 6-4 and sent the encounter into the fifth set. After the marathon matches of Nadal vs. Thiem and Federer vs. Millman, the fans really can’t complain about too little tennis.
Already in 2010 they played a five set match against each other at the US Open. At that time, the Japanese, one year younger, won the second round 6-1 in the decisive fifth set.
Eight years later, Nishikori got off to a better start in the last race. Michael Chang’s protégé broke 3-1 and then took a 4-1 lead.
Cilic averted his service game, fended off a break point and came back to 4-2, and the seventh in the world rankings was still cheering – this should have an effect. Nishikori gave away two game balls to 5:2 and was still broken to 4:3.
The roller coaster ride was not going to end for a long time. Nishikori developed a break opportunity that Cilic could fend off with an ace. Two points later it was 4-4 after exactly four hours of play and after three games in a row it was Nishikori’s turn again: Cilic had to serve at 4-5 from his point of view against the match loss.
Cilic was not up to this pressure. Two simple forehand mistakes gave Nishikori two match points. He was able to transform the first one with a wonderful return winner after 4:07 hours of play time. The Asian increased in the Head to Head to 9:6 and expects the winner of the duel Djokovic vs. Millman in the semifinal.