Kevin Anderson says Kei Nishikori win is among best in his career
Nishikori: "For me, it was one of the worst days in the year."
Tuesday 13 November 2018 19:40, UK
Kevin Anderson says Tuesday's 6-0 6-1 victory over Kei Nishikori at the ATP Finals in London ranks among the best wins in his career.
The South African world No 6, a finalist at Wimbledon this year, hit 10 aces without registering a double fault as Japan's in-form world No 9 Nishikori failed to follow up on his victory over Roger Federer on Sunday.
Anderson, now 32 years old, has never won a Grand Slam but enjoyed his most successful season in 2018 - picking up titles at the New York Open and Vienna Open - the first time he has won multiple tournaments on the Tour in a single year, with his last title before that coming in 2015.
He qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals for the first time and now sits top of Group Lleyton Hewitt, having added the win over Nishikori to his victory over Dominic Thiem on Sunday.
"That's amongst the best matches I've played," Anderson said.
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"I got off to a really good start and I think I did a really good job constantly applying the pressure and not letting up.
"Sometimes it's tough if you have a very dominating set, you often see scorelines that momentum can change. Today, I kept at it the whole time.
"I was growing in confidence and he sort of probably was going a little the other way, which is tough given the situation."
Despite the crushing defeat, Nishikori will still have a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals if he beats Thiem on Thursday.
"For me, it was one of the worst days in the year," he said. "He was playing well, serving well and returning well, too.
"He played good and it just wasn't my day today. I need to try to forget about today. Something was wrong, I've got to fix it tomorrow and try to be positive for the next one."
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