Kevin Anderson crowned champion of the ATP-500 tournament in Vienna. The South African defeats Kei Nishikoriin over long distances in a very good final in two narrow sets.Nikolaus Fink reports live from the Vienna Stadthalle
Before the match, Nishikori was in the head to head of both players 4:2. But the last duel at the ATP tournament in New York was won by Anderson. The spectators in the well-filled Wiener Stadthalle could not only look forward to a match between two absolute world class players, but also to an extremely balanced match.
Right from the start, the two showed excellent tennis, especially Anderson had an excellent start in the game and immediately played himself a break opportunity. However, Nishikori was able to fend off this with a good score and equalized it to 1:1 with further good points shortly afterwards.
The Japanese seemed to be a bit dissatisfied with his stringing and changed his racquet in the fourth game – this should not have the desired effect yet. The South African used his sixth break opportunity to take a 3-1 lead after a 14-minute game. At this point, more than half an hour had already been played.
Anderson had to fight for his service for the first time in the seventh service game. Nishikori, however, put a return into the net and made it possible for the World Ranking Night to win its fifth game in the first round. A short time later, the Wimbledon finalist again had problems with his own serve. After defending a break ball, the two seeded player used his third set ball to score 6:3.
The second run started much more unspectacular compared to section one. The level was still high, but both Anderson and Nishikori were able to serve with great ease. Only the 28-year-old Asian had to make up a 0:30 score at 3:3.
Anderson had also felt a bit ahead in the second set, but couldn’t bring this supposed superiority onto the scoreboard yet. Once again, the US Open finalist of 2014 was trailing by 0:30 with a score of 4:4 and was even confronted with a breakpoint this time. But with a sensational point win, the 28-year-old was able to avert the supposed preliminary decision. He thus forced Anderson to serve against the loss of sentence.
The South African managed to do this twice and sent the second set into a tiebreak. There Anderson got the better start and quickly took the lead 3:0. The 32-year-old could no longer be deprived of this lead. After a little less than two hours of play, he turned his first match point into a 6-3 and 7-6 (3) victory.
It’s Anderson’s first ATP 500 tournament title. He also qualified for the ATP finals in London by winning the Austrian capital. Nishikori, on the other hand, will need at least one semi-final entry at the last 1000cc tournament in Paris in order to remain in the race for the year-end final. The two finalists could meet again next week. There however already in the round of sixteen.
Nishikori said at the award ceremony, “I really enjoyed my time here.” And also the tournament winner found only praising words for tournament director Herwig Straka and his team: “It is an honour to come here. It means a lot to me to celebrate my first title at 500 level in Vienna.”
The single tableau in Vienna