Foxtrot
Market Sharp
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2011
- Messages
- 210
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 18
- URL
The second semi-final pits No. 3 seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia against No. 8 Kei Nishikori of Japan. Tipsarevic and Nishikori have already met four times this year, Tipsarevic winning the three on faster surfaces in straight sets (at Chennai, Delray Beach and Eastbourne) and their clay court meeting in three sets (in Belgrade). He finished extremely well in that Belgrade encounter however, winning 11 points in a row to seal a 26 62 76(0) victory. Nishikori is very match tough this week however - all of his matches before this one went to three sets, and he did pull off the biggest upset of the week in the quarter-finals, ousting top seed Nicolas Almagro, 67(5) 64 64. Tipsarevic may have extra motivation here: he’s the highest-ranked player never to win an ATP World Tour title. If Nishikori gets to the final, he will move from No. 54 to around a career-high No. 43 or 44, and he would become the highest-ranked Japanese man in ATP Rankings history (since 1973). Shuzo Matsuoka was No. 46 on July 6, 1992. Nishikori reached No. 46 earlier this year on May 2.- by http://www.atpworldtour.com
