“A few points in the first set and also second set”, Nishikori told atpworldtour.com. And when he needed to rely on his booming serve, he could.
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Kei Nishikori’s losing streak to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic extended to seven matches in Madrid on Saturday with the Japanese ace dropping his Madrid Open semifinal against the Serb in straight sets. A final forehand into net brought a sudden end to a two hour and 11-minute match of highs and lows. But Murray climbed out of the hole, hitting a service victor to go up 5-2.
Djokovic has now won 15 matches in succession against top-10 opponents – dropping just two sets in the process – and his latest victory over Murray came 10 years on from their first meeting, also in Madrid.
Sunday’s defeat leaves him tied in points with Federer for the No. 2 ranking, but behind on the tiebreakers. Two biting wide serves denied the break points as Murray cracked a forehand victor holding for 5-2.
“This trophy means a lot – it’s a great lead-up to Rome [where he will aim to retain the Internazionali d’Italia] and of course the French Open, which I want to approach in the best possible shape”. “There was a period there – if you watch it back – the game I got broken [in the third set], I made three unforced errors in that game”. He had never come from a set down to beat Djokovic and, with the world No1 looking unassailable from the baseline, there seemed little hope of him dictating the play as he had done so thrillingly in his last-four victory over Rafael Nadal. “Obviously it’s not easy”.
“It’s a big, big step for me from where I was four or five weeks ago”.
“It was kind of back and forth from there and unfortunately I couldn’t quite break, which was a shame because both of us on the break points until that last game were pretty clinical”. He was coming off a semi-final loss to Nadal in three sets at the Monte Carlo Masters. The Spaniard still leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 17-7. Where he had been aggressive and chock-full of confidence in his previous rounds – even when things were not going well against Rafael Nadal in the semi-final – he began yesterday like a man who did not really know what he wanted to do.
“I spoke to a number of coaches about it, coaches that work with younger players that develop technique”, said Murray. “You have to be able to respond when they do create the chances positively and I think I did that today”. I feel like I’m moving a lot better. “I tried to look for solutions, and I think I did that; it wasn’t enough”.
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This marks the second time Djokovic and Murray will meet in 2016. “Tomorrow back to a right-hander again”. “Just to understand different grips, different positions standing on the court, the ideal spot to make contact with the serve”.
