By Erik Gudris | Friday, August 4, 2017
Another lengthy rain delay made for late night and early morning tennis at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. But the finish saw both Kevin Anderson and Kei Nishikori advance into the quarterfinals.
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While Anderson earned yet another win over top seed Dominic Thiem, it was Nishikori who outlasted Juan Martin del Potro in a battle of former champions.
The 15th seeded Anderson survived a roller coaster three set tussle that saw both men hold match points. But it was Anderson, with a final ace, who sealed the 6-3, 6-7(6) 7-6(7) encounter. While for some the result is a surprise upset, Anderson actually entered the match with a perfect 5-0 record against the Austrian.
"I played him a few times before he made the huge leap he's made in the last few years. Anderson said about his perfect record against Thiem. "I went into the match taking a little bit of confidence but I knew that it would be a new match too."
Anderson jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before rain halted play for several hours. When the courts dried, Anderson continued his momentum by taking the first set 6-4.
Thiem, who struggled with his own serve and handling Anderson's bigger delivery, managed to claw his way into a second set tiebreak. Thiem, with a forehand winner, saved one match point against him. He then took the set to force a decider.
Both traded breaks by double faulting early on break points in the final set. The climax soon came in the final set tiebreak with each man revving up even bigger serves. Thiem fired down a 138 MPH ace to earn his first match point. But Anderson saved it with a great forehand for 6-all.
Thiem saved another match point with a serve and volley foray. But then Thiem drifted a backhand wide to give Anderson yet another match point which he then converted with his ninth ace of the night.
"I don't like to play these big servers in general but what I can do it's one of those bad losses," Thiem said after. "It can't go my way all the time and that's fine. It's not that easy to make this change (to hard courts) after that long a break that's why I'm pretty satisfied with my game. It wasn't bad at all. It was just very close. I'm a high seed in Montreal so we'll see how I do there."
Anderson now faces in the quarterfinals Yuki Bhambri, who upset defending champion Gael Monfils, earlier on Tuesday.
At the stroke of midnight, No. 2 seed Nishikori and No. 13 seed Del Potro walked on court to start their anticipated meeting of former event winners. Del Potro entered the match riding a 15-match win streak in D.C. stretching back to 2008.
Yet the outcome was perhaps decided early as Del Potro called for a trainer just a few games into the first set. The former US Open champion was treated for what appeared to be a neck and shoulder issue.
Nishikori secured an early service break and rode that to a 6-4 first set before breaking a flat-looking Del Potro again to start the second set.
Del Potro, with several massive forehands, took advantage of a dip in Nishikori's play midway in the set. Del Potro broke for 4-all to the delight of the few fans who stayed behind in the early morning to watch.
Del Potro threatened to take things into a decider when he held three set points on Nishikori's serve at 5-4. But Del Potro couldn't do anything with his returns to threaten Nishikori who held for 5-all.
Nishikori then broke Del Potro again to earn a 6-5 lead. At 2 a.m. local time, Nishiskori hit his final ball to complete the 6-4, 7-5 victory.
Nishikori next faces American Tommy Paul.