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Kei Nishikori vs Stan Wawrinka |
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|---|---|---|
2017 Brisbane International, men's semi-finals |
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| Pat Rafter Arena, Queensland Tennis Centre | ||
| Kei Nishikori | Stan Wawrinka | |
| 2 | SCORE | 0 |
| 7 | Set 1 | 6 |
| 6 | Set 2 | 3 |
Kei Nishikori upset Stan Wawrinka on Saturday afternoon, advancing to the Brisbane International final in doing so.
Final score
Kei Nishikori 2 – 7 (7), 6
Stan Wawrinka 0 – 6 (3), 3
In what should be an epic battle for a spot in the Brisbane International final, the ever consistent Kei Nishikori takes on Stan Wawrinka who has plenty to work on after scrapping through yesterday. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the first men’s semi-final from around 2pm (AEDT).
With both players ranked in the top five, we should in for some high-quality tennis this afternoon, but there are still questions needed to be answered.
Given they both received a bye through the first round, the sample space to judge them on is a little small at the moment, but neither will be overly impressed with how they have come through to the semi-final.
Nishikori started his tournament against American qualifier Jared Donaldson and looked out of sorts during the first set which he dropped.
Eventually, the world No.5 turned things around to pick up the win, but there was plenty to work on.
His second round match against young Australian Jordan Thompson though was much stronger as he completed a 6-1, 6-1 demolition, yet there the questions haven’t been answered because Thompson simply didn’t play well enough to test him out.
The world No.4 Wawrinka, on the other hand looked much better in his first round match than he did in the second after being taken to three sets by youngster Kyle Edmund.
After blowing past Viktor Troicki without raising an effort, Edmund proved himself to be a much tougher competitor as Wawrinka struggled with his serve and timing shots, whether backhand or forehand.
He lost a lot of silly points, particularly in the first set when he just couldn’t hit anything with any fluency or rhythm.
Wawrinka got frustrated in his own game quite easily yesterday and even though he bounced back to take the third set quite convincingly, he still didn’t play fantastically.
It’s the inconsistency of both players that has been on display throughout the tournament – this being their first of the season – that could well decide which way this match goes.
Either player will jump over a spell of poor play from their opposition, and it could well burst this game open.
Prediction
Nishikori looked to be in the better form of the pair yesterday, but Wawrinka is very good at the back end of tournaments and his backhand won’t be off two days in a row like it was yesterday.
It’ll be a good match this, but Wawrinka should get it done.
Wawrinka in three sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores and coverage of this Brisbane International men’s semi-final between two of the best players in the world from around 2pm (AEDT) or following the completion of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Jordan Thompson vs Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde