In a match that by and large failed to deliver on its initial promise, Rafael Nadal put in a performance that was well below par, but still won in straight sets against Kei Nishikori, 6-4 6-4.
Like many of us, Nadal does not seem to enjoy an early start to his working day, and there was a sluggish quality to his performance which never fully went away. In contrast, Nishikori—currently at his career-high ranking of No. 16—started in sprightly fashion, earning four break points in a 13-minute service game with which Nadal opened the match. Nadal struggled to find his first serve and persisted in serving his second softly to Nishikori’s backhand, allowing the Japanese No. 1 to dominate and dictate with his stronger wing, and showcase some exceptional cross-court returns. After two more break points went begging in Nadal’s next service game, a forehand error allowed Nishikori to take the lead.
It was Nishikori’s best opportunity to capitalize on Nadal’s slow start, and it’s hard not to conclude that the poor service game he played in failing to consolidate lost him the match right there. Nadal steadily raised his level from that point on, serving better for two straightforward holds while putting Nishikori’s serve, never the strongest aspect of his game, under increasing pressure. Nishikori was forced to save two break points at 3-4, but when he found himself a break and set point down in his next service game, he was unable to escape, hitting a short forehand wildly long in his eagerness to put the ball somewhere Nadal could not get to.
Although it was Nadal who needed a medical time-out before the last game of the first set to have his left knee taped up, it was Nishikori who deflated rapidly and fatally in the second, double-faulting to hand his opponent a 2-0 lead. As Nadal’s service percentage climbed a few crucial points, he increasingly targeted Nishikori’s weaker forehand while imposing his own. It did not help the 16th seed that he failed to challenge on several occasions where an incorrect call cost him the point; when he finally used Hawkeye, it was with Nadal serving at 5-3 and the definite feeling that anything Nishikori did was going to be more of a last-ditch effort than a game-changer. So it proved: Nishikori broke back, but as in the first set was unable to hold serve at 4-5, broken for the match as Nadal targeted his forehand to elicit another error.
It was a dispiriting end for Nishikori, who demonstrated some successful tactics but was unable to execute consistently or well enough to make significant inroads, even when Nadal’s tennis was poor. Nadal, on the other hand, can draw almost the opposite conclusion; even when he was playing poorly, he never seemed in any real danger of losing the match, and his tennis only improved as time went on, ending on a respectable 24 winners to 25 unforced errors. Look for his level to rise dramatically in the quarterfinals, where he will face either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Florian Mayer.