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Grigor Dimitrov vs Kei Nishikori |
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|---|---|---|
2017 Brisbane International, men's final, 8 January |
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| Pat Rafter Arena, Queensland Tennis Centre | ||
| Grigor Dimitrov | Kei Nishikori | |
| 1 | SCORE | 1 |
| 6 | Set 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Set 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Set 3 | 3 |
Grigor Dimitrov has won his first ATP tournament in three years, taking out the Brisbane International in three hard fought sets against Kei Nishikori in a match that had plenty of momentum swings.
Nishikori might have been the favourite coming into the match, but it didn’t take him long to be found out by Dimitrov in the first set, who played some of the best tennis he has played in recent memory.
His backhand was on fire during the first set, and along with a good serve and his ever reliable forehand, he broke twice to take the early lead in just over half an hour.
He was aggressive against Nishikori’s serve and looked the better player – that was until the second set got going.
It was almost a tale of complete opposites as Nishikroi fired up his ever consistent game, getting the better of a well beaten Dimitrov at every turn who was simply not in the match for the most part of the set.
At the end of the second set though, with all the momentum Nishikori had to take a medical timeout and it reversed the momentum, Nishikori struggling to his first set position.
In the end, Dimitrov ended with another break and served it out convincingly as Nishikori made yet another unforced error.
Final score
Grigor Dimitrov 2 – 6,2,6
Kei Nishikori 1 – 2,6,3
Grigor Dimitrov will be out to pull off another surprise in the final of the Brisbane International when he takes on world No.5 and heavy favourite, the in-form Kei Nishikori. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 8pm (AEDT).
Nishikori has long been on the next rung to the games biggest superstars, but based on the way he played against Stan Wawrinka yesterday, 2017 could be a big year for the Japanese veteran.
After getting his season off to a slow start against Jordan Donaldson, he recovered from dropping the first set to take it in three and advance to the third round where he met Jordan Thompson, smashing a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
The big battle was always going to be the semi-final effort against Wawrinka though, where he came up trumps in a straight sets demolition job.
While there are plenty of questions to be asked over Wawrinka’s game moving towards the first grand slam of the year, Nishikori’s form looked good.
He was serving at a high percentage and his groundstroke game was brilliant when compared with Wawrinka, particularly the way he was playing forehands across the court and his patience to stay in some long rallies during the first set was also excellent.
Dimitrov, on the other hand had to play in the first round, not being one of the top four seeds and picking up a bye and the world No.17 has only lost a single set out of his four matches so far.
None of the opponents Dimitrov has faced could be classified in the ‘easy beat’ category either, taking on Steven Johnson and Nicolas Mahut to get his season underway.
Dimitrov went onto drop a set against Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals, but it was a strong performance nonetheless before he came out to shock everyone and defeat defending champion Milos Raonic in a straight sets demolition.
The way he was able to handle the serve of the all-powerful Raonic was splendid to watch, and with Nishikori having a slower first serve it’s something he could pick apart here.
The pair have previously met on four occasions, with Nishikori winning each time. They have all been on the hard court, and Nishikori hadn’t dropped a set in the meetings until last time out in Toronto, where he dropped the second.
Prediction
Nishikori’s form has been splendid over the last two days and despite Dimitrov pulling off a monster upset over Raonic yesterday, it’s hard to see him going with the consistency of Nishikori over three sets.
Nishikori in three sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the men’s Brisbane International final from 8pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to drop a comment in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde