Kei Nishikori broke his hard-court hoodoo as he beat Canadian sensation Felix Auger Aliassime in a dominant straight-sets victory at ATP Rotterdam Open. This was Nishikori’s first hardcourt victory in 18 months, having last won one at US Open 2019.

Felix was last year’s runner-up at the tournament and after a fourth-round run at Australian Open 2021 a lot more was expected of him, whereas Nishikori was on a bad run. This was Nishikori’s first victory since French Open 2020. Moreover, he recorded his first victory over a top 20 player since Brisbane Open 2019.

Strong first set from Kei Nishikori and Felix Auger Aliassime

The match started off on a strong note for both players. Neither player was giving the other a sniff at a breakpoint. Nishikori was back to serving beautifully. He kept a disciplined line and had a high first-serve percentage. Felix was not behind him either.

At 3-3, the tide started shifting towards Nishikori. The Japanese ace was piling the pressure on the young Canadian. Felix’s service holds were long and tiresome, yet he somehow got away.

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At 5-4, it looked like Nishikori would get a breakpoint and win the set, but Felix denied him and took the first set to a tiebreaker. Here also both players were inseparable.

At 4-4 in the tiebreaker, Felix cracked and gave an important point to Nishikori. From there on, the Japanese took the first set 7-6. The set lasted 1 hour 7 minutes and had some clutch Nishikori backhands.

Nishikori back to his best

The second set was dominant as any set could be. Nishikori was ruthless and was racing away. He just lost two points of his service in the second set and had an amazing first-serve percentage of 89%. His shots were finding the lines and it showed glimpses of the early Nishikori that everyone feared.

For Felix, it looked like he was dealing with some niggle. He played awful service games and won just one game in the entire set. Nishikori was having to return simple serves, and Felix wasn’t engaging in the short rallies as well.

In the end, Nishikori won seven points in a row to quickly finish the set. The second set lasted only 31 minutes as Nishikori took the set and match, 7-6, 6-1.

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