Kei Nishikori of Japan returns the ball to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their men’s singles match at the Madrid Open, yesterday. Nishikori won 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
MADRID: Japan’s world number 14 Kei Nishikori dumped defending champion Roger Federer out of the Madrid Masters at the third round stage yesterday as he beat the 17-time Grand Slam champion 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Federer, who returned to the tour in the Spanish capital after a two-month layoff, was broken in the fifth game of the first set as Nishikori went onto seal it comfortably 6-4.
The Swiss seemed to have found his rhythm in the second as a double break saw him take the set 6-1, but Nishikori dominated the third set as he broke to go 2-1 in front and then again in the final game to move into the quarter-finals.
Nishikori will face Spain’s Pablo Andujar for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal eased past Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 6-3 and will next face either Tommy Haas of Germany or Spanish compatriot David Ferrer.
In the women’s tournament, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, the top two seeds, also cruised into the quarter-finals.
World number five Nadal looked in fine form early on as he broke Youzhny’s serve to move ahead 2-1 and then sealed a double break at 5-2 with a lovely drop shot.
Nadal then served out to take the first set, but after again securing an early break in the second he was pegged back as his own serve was broken for the only time in the match as Youzhny levelled at 3-3.
However, the Spaniard bounced back straight away to break again for 4-3 before sealing the match with a typical backhand crosscourt winner on the run.
The 26-year-old Nadal now stands at 28-2 on the season as he looks to reach his seventh final in seven tournaments since his comeback from a seven-month injury lay-off in February.
Sixth seed Tomas Berdych also progressed into the quarter-finals as he won the battle of the big servers against Kevin Anderson 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.
On the women’s side, world number one Serena Williams eased into the last eight as she dismantled 13th seed Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-1 in just an hour and four minutes.
Williams didn’t even face a break point during the match as she steamrollered the Russian, and she believes taking some pace off her serve to get a higher percentage of first serves into court helped her relax and play more fluently than in her earlier rounds.Agencies
