Nishikori

[gzhpcu]

Nishikori beat Ferrer in a great semifinal match. The final game when he was serving for the match at 5-3 lasted over 10 minutes and was full of match points and break points. Ferrer gave his best as always, but Nishikori was just incredible. Great to see a Japanese player enter the top ten. He has had injury problems, so hope he will be healthy for the French Open. He plays Nadal in the Madrid final today...

Nishikori moves very well, plays an aggressive game, great angles and will quickly go to the net to finish points off. Serves very well too. His down the mid center serve on the deuce court gets him a lot of points. He dictated the match against Ferrer. Like watching his matches.

[GeoffWilliams]

He has the quickest unit turn in the game. Choked on his fh in that game, which lasted about 17 minutes. 9 match points, 12 deuces.

[stroke]

I really liked his disposition that whole match, particularly revealing through all those 9 match points he had, before converting. He just stayed the course and gave away no emotion before or after all those match points. It was a huge win, but it was a very long match against the gold level standard for mental and physical toughness, Ferrer, and now he has Nadal in the final. This final could not be much more of a mental and physical test for Kei. These Masters tournaments on clay, where the men have to play serveral days in a row against top tier competition to win the tournament, are about as tough as it gets.

[gzhpcu]

Nishikori wins the first set 6-2 against Nadal. Nishikori has the initiative and he is standing close to the baseline or even inside the court, while Nadal is way behind the baseline...

[stotty]

Woeful performance from Nadal so far. I have never see him play as poorly as this. Niskori is playing well but it's nothing Nadal cannot deal with if he can at least find some range, some form.

[gzhpcu]

Great depth of serve....

[stroke]

Bizarre turn of events with Kei injury. Looks like all he is going to have out of this match is the best one set of tennis by anyone ever on clay vs Nadal.

[gzhpcu]

What a shame!

[bottle]

Finally, Kei's cagey, dominating performance turned into a bullfight with him the bull. Once he was hurt, the end was inevitable, and with the crowd involved. This was in Madrid after all.

[gzhpcu]

I like Kei's style of play: mostly flat strokes, excellent length, great angles, aggressive returns, excellent serve, fleet of foot. Looking forward to seeing him play Paris...