Kei Nishikori battles to victory over Tomas Berdych at ATP World Tour Finals
Tuesday 17 November 2015 22:39, UK
Kei Nishikori boosted his qualification hopes at the ATP World Tour Finals with a three-set victory over Tomas Berdych at The O2.
Nishikori recovered from an opening match drubbing by Novak Djokovic to overcome Berdych 7-5 3-6 6-3 in the first singles match to go to three sets at the O2 Arena this year.
The world No 8 appeared to be in trouble when he was facing a break point at 3-3 in the deciding set, but he rallied to secure a first win in Stan Smith Group.
"I got a bit lucky in the last couple of games but I worked really hard today," said Nishikori.
A feature of the match was the powerful base-line rallies as momentum swung either way throughout.
Berdych squandered a great chance in the first set when Nishikori was serving at 4-5 15-30, missing a wide-open court with a backhand at the end of brilliant rally.
It proved costly as Berdych dropped serve in the next game and Nishikori clinched the set on serve with a pinpoint forehand winner past the wrong-footed Czech.
Nishikori went 2-0 ahead in the second set but Berdych recovered to win five games in a row with some thunderous winners to turn the match around and send it towards a deciding set.
The crucial moment came at 3-3 in the third set, when a lucky net chord gave Berdych break point, but Nishikori showed great defensive skills to fend off his Czech opponent and kept his nose ahead at 4-3.
Two forehand errors from Berdych allowed Nishikori to move 5-3 ahead and the Japanese player secured victory with a love hold. It was Berdych second defeat after losing to Roger Federer in his opening match.
