Andy Murray was in complete control in the early part of his quarterfinal match at the US Open Wednesday, cruising to a win in the first set.
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Kei Nishikori battled past world No. 2 Andy Murray 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in a almost four-hour duel Wednesday to advance to the semifinals at the year’s last Grand Slam event.
“But this slam in particular, I think many players, especially the ones that have done well over the summer, have found it tough”.
“After a few days away, I would imagine I’d be very happy with how I’ve done and learn from this match and the summer as a whole, because it’s been tough.it’s been a hard summer”.
Next up for Williams is a match against Karolina Pliskova on Thursday.
Nishikori opts for an attacking brand of tennis that Roger Federer, for one, enjoys watching and particularly in the final two sets he did the majority of dictating from the baseline.
Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki reached her fifth U.S. Open semifinal, and first at any Grand Slam tournament in two years, by beating an injured Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-0, 6-2 on Tuesday night.
“I definitely have great memories here”, Nishikori added.
A year ago, Vinci beat Williams in the semifinals, then lost to good friend Flavia Pennetta of Italy in the first Grand Slam final for each.
Karolina Pliskova came into the U.S. Open with the dubious distinction of being the only woman now ranked in the top 20 never to make a Grand Slam round of 16. Gael has been playing very well but I think in their head to heads, Novak has had quite a bit of success.
It thudded around the stadium and echoed eerily beneath the roof which had been closed due to rain midway through the second set.
“I felt alright today”, Murray said.
He did admit that “there’s just a few things I could do differently next time”, and I would imagine that would be not to lose his cool and/or let the distractions get the best of him. However from the third set onwards, there was no looking back for him as he first won the third set 6-3 and then wrapped an emotionally charged fourth set 6-2. The retractable roof atop Ashe was shut during the second, longer shower, and the break of about 20 minutes gave Nishikori’s coach, 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang, a chance to run through the concourse to get down to the locker room and consult with his player.
‘Obviously I’ll look forward to the match.
Williams, seeded No. 1, had held serve in 37 consecutive games over the past two weeks until Halep broke to get within 3-2 in the opening set. Whenever Murray finally stopped seething enough to play tennis, he cooled to see a match that had changed beyond measure.
Murray’s five-set defeat to Nishikori was particularly galling.
In the women’s quarterfinals, Williams not only was broken for the first time in the tournament but lost a set for the first time as well, even though she topped Halep.
Most watchers would likely have called Murray to win this one given his extensively dominant record against Kei Nishikori, but what we saw tonight was a disturbed Murray and a Nishikori who, as always, held his cool.
The edge went back to Murray late in the third, when he broke to lead 5-4 as Nishikori missed a backhand.
“I’m so excited to be in my first semi-final”, said the 24-year-old, who had failed to make it out of the third round in 17 prior Grand Slam appearances.
But the Scot was roaring again, this time with joy, when he came from 40 love down to break back for 4-4. His focus diverted, however, Murray lost 13 of the next 15 points and did not win another game until he trailed 2-0 in the deciding set.
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“I don’t really like coming to the net, to be honest, but I’m good at the net, I guess”, Williams said. Against Tsonga at Wimbledon I was up, but that could have gone the other way in the beginning of the fifth.
