By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, October 28, 2016
Denying all eight break points he faced, Kei Nishikori defeated Juan Martin del Potro for the first time, 7-5, 6-4, reaching his ninth semifinal of the season in Basel.
Photo credit: Beelde Images/ Daniel Huerlimann
Kei Nishikori is a shrewd problem-solver, but decoding Juan Martin del Potro has been a task as challenging as downsizing a building in their past meetings.
Winless in all 10 prior sets against the two-time Basel champion, Nishikori created all-court solutions today.
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Denying all eight break points he faced, Nishikori defeated del Potro for the first time, 7-5, 6-4, advancing to his ninth semifinal of the season in Basel.
Contesting his third quarterfinal in the last five weeks, qualifier Mischa Zverev continued his successful fall season toppling top-seeded Stan Wawrinka, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, to reach his first semifinal of the season.
The 72nd-ranked German will play 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic for a place in the final. The fourth-seeded Cilic swept Marcel Granollers, 6-3, 6-3, in 65 minutes.
Nishikori snapped del Potro's 12-match winning streak at St. Jakobshalle beating the bigger man in several baseline exchanges and playing more assertive tennis at critical stages.
Consistently tormenting del Potro in backhand crosscourt exchanges, Nishikori mixed slice, drop shots and even some surprise serve-and-volley to post his career-best 55th win of the season.
The third-seeded Japanese will face Gilles Muller for a spot in Sunday's final.
In a tense test between left-handers, Muller rallied from 3-5 down in the decider squeezing out a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Federico Delbonis.
The 48th-ranked Delbonis served for the semifinals at 5-3 only to see Muller answer with a three-game run. Delbonis broke back to force the tie break.
Facing a 2-3 deficit in the breaker, Muller ran off five straight points. An ace followed by a smash that set up a volley winner put Muller in front 4-3. Delbonis netted a backhand pass down the line and Muller thumped another smash to reach match point.
Finishing a serve-and-volley with a low backhand volley into the corner, the 37th-ranked Muller landed in his sixth semifinal of the season.
Playing for his first semifinal since he lost to Stan Wawrinka at last month's US Open, Nishikori dodged two break points in his opening service game today.
Early on, del Potro was pounding his first serve with authority: He won 21 of 23 first-serve points in the first set. Slashing his fifth ace in the fifth game, del Potro closed a game with an ace for the third straight time.
The seventh game was a severe test for the Argentine wild card. Del Potro fought off five break points in a tense 13-minute games so taxing the Stockholm champion challenged one call just to catch his breath before finally holding on a netted return.
A double fault put Nishikori in a break point bind, but he showed superb hands working his way out of it. Jammed by a del Potro forehand, Nishikori fought off the ball flicking an off-balance forehand off the sideline to save it. He eventually held for 4-all.
A determined del Potro had been so tough holding strong, but degenerated into imprecision the 11th game. A double fault and netted forehand cost him the break as Nishikori snatched a 6-5 lead.
Exploiting that lapse, a calm Nishikori served out the set at love—the first set he'd ever won against del Potro after dropping the first 10 sets they'd played.
Following a brief bathroom break, Nishikori came back firing.
A sharp-angled backhand approach set up a smash for triple break point. Del Potro dug in and denied all three then surprised a lunging Nishikori bunting a slice backhand pass down the line. Del Potro drilled his ninth ace to conclude a gutsy hold.
Nishikori targeted the bigger man's backhand, but wasn't afraid to test del Potro's hazardous forehand either. Driving the ball deep to that wing, Nishikori drew an errant forehand breaking for 2-1.
Chasing a chip approach forward, del Potro showed high hops soaring to snap off a flicked backhand volley winner for triple break point.
An aggressive Nishikori denied all three three points. Then he showed freaky feel pulling off a forehand drop shot, guarding the line and poking a lunging forehand volley capping a rousing hold from love-40 down for 3-1.
Nishikori spiked a forehand volley wrapping up a one hour, 53 minute victory.