For Japan’s Kei Nishikori, it was a revenge of his 2014 US Open loss to Marin Cilic as he beat the Croat in the semifinal of the Citi Open in Washington DC to set up the title clash with US star John Isner. In an all-American semifinal with compatriot Steve Johnson, Isner saved two match points before beating him to enter the final. Indo-Romanian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea lost to the top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan in the semifinals and the Bryans will now eye for their 108th title together on Sunday, when they face Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, who entered the final of the Citi Open after defeating Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic. In the Generali Open at Kitzbuhel, Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber took the men’s singles title defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in three sets. The men’s doubles crown at Kitzbuhel went to the Spanish-Argentine combo of Nicolas Almagro and Carlos Berlocq, who battled hard before beating Robin Haase and Henri Kontinen in the match tiebreak.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori defeated Croatia’s Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to enter the final of Citi Open at Washington DC on Saturday. This was the fourth ATP World Tour final for Nishikori, who needed a little over 2 hours to win against the Croat. Nishikori managed to save six out of eight break points against him in the entire match. In the first set, Cilic began by breaking the Japanese in the first game and raced to a 3-0 lead. This advantage continued despite Nishikori having two break chances in the fifth game. After Cilic won the first set in 35 minutes, Nishikori bounced back in the second and got his rhythm to take a 5-0 lead. Cilic prevented the washout by holding his serve but Nishikori forced a deciding set by taking the second set 6-1. The Japanese continued his new-found run and finished the match as he took the third set at 6-4 and set up the title clash with USA’s John Isner.
In the other semifinal, John Isner saved three match points against his countryman Steve Johnson before coming through with the score of 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in a nearly 2 hour match. Despite firing 30 aces and winning 85 per cent of first serve points, Isner was in trouble against Johnson. Their clash went down to the wire as Johnson held two match points at 6-4 in the third set tie-break. However Isner saved both those match points and drew at 6-6. They kept holding their serves until the score reached 9-9. At this point, Isner earned a break by charging to the net and then held his serve to win the match. The American will try to win his second straight title after capturing a three-peat at the BB&T Atlanta Open last week.
In the men’s double semifinal at Washington, USA’s top seed Mike and Bob Bryan defeated the Indo-Romanian combo of Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea 6-3, 6-4 to set up the title clash with second seeds Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, who outlasted Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic 6-0, 6-4.
In Kitzbuhel’s Generali Open, Local resident Philipp Kohlschreiber, who cycled from his house to Kitzbühel Tennis Club every day of the tournament week; won the title by beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the final. The German took one hour and 42 minutes to win against the French qualifier, who made tournament history by reaching the final yesterday. Mathieu began well and took the first set 6-2 in 31 minutes by breaking Kohlschreiber in sixth and eighth games. However, Kohlschreiber responded by breaking Mathieu in the opening game of the second set and once again in the fifth game to take the set 6-2. After that, the German didn’t look back and finished with a fine victory.
In men’s doubles final at Kitzbuhel, Nicolas Almagro and Carlos Berlocq defeated Robin Haase and Henri Kontinen 5-7, 6-3, 11-9 to take the title and earn 250 Emirates ATP doubles rankings points.
