Nole falls to Nishikori in Basel


Photo: Zdravko Stambolija

Nole will not play in the Swiss Indoors Basel final.

Despite a good start, the top seed was defeated 6-2, 6-7(4), 0-6, in the last four of the ATP World Tour 500 event by Japan’s wild card Kei Nishikori today.

The semi-final match featured 9 breaks of serve. Nole converted 4 of his 7 break point chances, while the Japanese youngster capitalised on 5 of his 7 opportunities.

Everything looked perfect at the beginning. Djokovic opened the match in confident fashion on his own serve. He raced to a 5-1 lead with a double break. Nishikori broke back once, but the 24-year-old put the pressure on the Japanese and took the set 6-2.

The world no.1 was broken in the fifth game of the second set, but he managed to fight back in the eighth to level at 4-all. The set went into a tie-breaker, Nishikori won it 7-4 in 71 minutes.

A right shoulder injury bothered Nole and affected his performance. Nishikori broke him three times in the deciding third set, sealing the victory in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

“The second set, he was playing great and was fighting… I have to give credit to my opponent, he was better,” said Novak. “I didn’t make the most of my opportunities.”

”I changed the technique of my serve a little bit. I was forcing it too much because of the injury I have. I’ve carried it since the US Open and I’m still afraid something is going to happen. My rhythm with the serve is not good right now.”


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“Recovering is what matters now. I don’t think in these conditions I will be able to train for the next couple of days. I’ll see what the team think.”

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