Nishikori edges past Karlovic in a thriller
Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the No 8 seed, edged towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic in a super- tiebreak to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.
Karlovic served 59 aces in the match — but crucially just one in the deciding tiebreaker — as Nishikori prevailed 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 5-7 5-7 7-6 (10-7) on a hot and muggy day in Melbourne.
Nishikori broke Karlovic’s serve just once in the marathon encounter lasting three hours and 48 minutes, but that proved to be enough.
‘‘It was a really tough match and it could have gone both ways,’’ said Nishikori, who has reached the last eight at Melbourne Park on three previous occasions.
‘‘I was down 7-6 in the tiebreak but I focused well in the last points and I’m really happy to win.’’
The Japanese star did well to keep his cool when Karlovic made a successful challenge at a crucial moment in the supertiebreak after his return was wrongly called out despite clipping the baseline.
The chair umpire then awarded the point to the Croatian after determining the linesperson’s erroneous call did not affect Nishikori’s subsequent shot which he dumped into the net, levelling the score at 6-6.
Nishikori will play German Philipp Kohlschreiber or Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the third round tomorrow.
Karolina Pliskova extended her winning start to the season by reaching the third round after a rain-interrupted 4-6 6-1 6-0 victory over Madison Brengle.
The 2016 US Open finalist started this year with a run to the title at the Brisbane International and entered the season’s first major seeded seventh, still with a chance to regain the top ranking depending on her performance at Melbourne Park.
After dropping serve twice in the first set against Brengle, Pliskova completely dominated the second and third sets and capped it with a pair of aces.
‘‘Some breaks, some good tennis, and some bad mistakes from me too,’’ Pliskova said.
‘‘The first set wasn’t very good from my side, but she played some good points and was very solid.’’
She’ll next play No 27 Camila Giorgi, who beat Iga Swiatek 6-2
6-0.
Madison Keys, the 2017 US Open finalist, had a 6-3 6-4 win over Anastasia Potapova to set up a third-round match against No 12-seeded Elise Mertens, who beat Margarita Gasparyan 6-1, 7-5.
In other early matches, WTA Finals winner Elina Svitolina beat Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-1 in
67 minutes, No. 13 Anastasija Sevastova beat teenage Canadian qualifier Bianca Andreescu 6-3,
3-6, 6-2 and No. 21 Wang Qiang Wang had a 6-2, 6-3 win over Aleksandra Krunic.
Hsieh Su-wei advanced 6-3, 6-4 over Laura Siegemund, who had beaten two-time champion Victoria Azarenka in the first round.