Kei Nishikori makes maiden quarterfinal at rainy Roland Garros
Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man in more than 80 years to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open, breezing past Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 63, 6-4, 6-2 as rain played havoc with other matches at Roland Garros yesterday.
In a nearly flawless performance that lasted less than two hours, Nishikori broke his opponent five times and hit 40 winners to follow in the footsteps of Jiro Satoh, who made it to the semifinals twice in Paris in 1931 and 1933.
“To (reach) the quarterfinals, that’s the first goal for these two weeks,” said Nishikori, who disappointed with a first-round exit at the French last year but rebounded by making the US Open final.
After a rain-delay of more than 2 and ½ hours in the morning, yesterday’s showcase match between second-seeded Roger Federer and local favorite Gael Monfils was suspended as light started to fade. Spurred on by his raucous fans on center court, Monfils leveled the match at 3-6, 6-4 with a backhand winner that left the 17-time Grand Slam winner stranded before play was called for the day.
After enjoying three days of rest, Nishikori was full of stamina on court Suzanne Lenglen and lost just six points on his serve in the opening set. The US Open runner-up continued his demolition work as he raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set.
A brief change of momentum saw the 74th-ranked Gabashvili come back to 5-4 after Nishikori dropped his serve in the eighth game. That was the only scare for the fifth-seeded Japanese, who advanced from the third round without hitting a ball when his opponent pulled out of the tournament.
Gabashvili saved two match points in the seventh game before Nishikori sealed the match on his next service game to the delight of the fans waving Japanese flags.
Next up for Nishikori will be No. 14 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who upset fourth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 63.
Eighth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka also advanced with an easy 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon in less than two hours. Awaiting Wawrinka in the next round will be either Federer or Monfils.
In the women’s side of the draw, former champion Ana Ivanovic returned to the quarterfinals for the first time since her triumph at Roland Garros seven years ago after beating ninth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
Ivanovic will face 19th-seeded Elina Svitolina, who overcame strong resistance from local hope Alize Cornet to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 62, 7-6 (9) win.
For the first time this year play was disrupted by rain, with both women’s matches suspended before midday. Players had then to deal with gusts of wind after play resumed.
The seventh-seeded Ivanovic, who won the French Open the year after losing in the final, last made the quarterfinals of a major at the Australian Open in 2014.
Cornet was off to a bad start in her fourth-round match against Svitolina on center court, trailing 3-0 after dropping her serve twice when their match was suspended after 21 minutes. The rain gave her the chance to refocus in the locker room but she lost the first six points when play resumed.
In a match featuring 12 breaks of serves, Cornet saved five match points before a final backhand out of bounds gave Svitolina the win.
The 29th-seeded Frenchwoman lost her temper near the end, remonstrating with the umpire over a shot that was called out in the 11th game of the second set after Svitolina stopped the rally. Svitolina said afterward she thought “99 per cent the ball was out.”
Cornet complained to the umpire at the changeover, saying “you look in my eyes and you know it” was in. She also dared the umpire to “give me a warning after you stole me a point.”
The two remaining women’s fourth-round matches on yesterday’s schedule were postponed because of the rain delay, meaning defending champion Maria Sharapova will wait until today before playing 13th-seeded Lucie Safavrova. Tournament organisers also postponed the match between No. 21 Garbine Muguruza vs. No. 28 Flavia Pennetta.