The first finalist of the Erste Bank Open is Kei Nishikori. In the semi-final, the Japanese defeated Mikhail Kukushkin from Kazakhstan 6:4 and 6:3. Nikolaus Fink reports live from the Vienna Stadthalle
Nishikori, who had defeated local hero Dominic Thiem in two sets in the quarter-finals thanks to an outstanding performance, was able to continue his top form against Kukushkin. Although the 28-year-old missed two break chances in the sixth game, Nishikori struck just as the Kazakh served against the set loss: he broke to 6-4.
At the beginning of the second run, the world eleventh had to survive a short period of weakness. After leading 40:0, he was confronted with a break chance in the first service game, which he could fend off and set to 1-0.
With a subsequent break to zero, the Asian put another damper on the qualifier. From now on, Nishikori was able to increase his baseline play and put his opponent under pressure with balls taken early. In addition, he won at this stage of the game almost all the important points. So Nishikori defused another break point and took a 3-0 lead.
Kukushkin continued to play well, but made too many mistakes in the decisive game situations and had to congratulate Nishikori on his deserved 6-4 and 6-3 success after a little less than 90 minutes playing time. Nevertheless, the 30-year-old can look back on a great week.
Nishikori made up important points in the fight for the ATP finals with his victory. He is currently in ninth place directly behind Dominic Thiem. The US Open finalist of 2014 will now face Fernando Verdasco or Kevin Anderson in the final.
The single tableau in Vienna