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Talking points aren't strong points for Kei Nishikori.
Even the notoriously humble Japanese concedes he's produced some of his peak play recently.
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The top-seeded Nishikori made a successful Dubai debut dismissing Benoit Paire, 6-4, 6-3. Nishikori, who denied all eight break points he faced, raised his record to 12-2 setting up a round-of-16 clash vs. Marcos Baghdatis.
Nishikori opened the season snapping a nine-match losing streak in ATP finals with a victory over Daniil Medvedev to collect his 12th career title in Brisbane. He backed that up with a run to his 10th Grand Slam quarterfinal, bowing to eventual-champion Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
“I don’t know how far I am from my best. I want to say 100 per cent," Nishikori told the media in Dubai. "I mean, there is up and down each match, but I think I’m more consistent now. From end of the year last season, I think I’ve been playing good tennis at every match. That’s something I had to work on.”
The 29-year-old baseliner has reached quarterfinals or better in four of his last six Grand Slam appearances.
The flip-side is he's missed two of the last six majors due to injury. Two months into the new year, Nishikori has a simple goal for the rest of the season.
“I think it’s going to be very important that I can able to play 80 percent, 90 percent every match. That’s going to be my goal this year.”
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve