The Serbian now faces Nadal for a place in the final and seems set to be sternly tested by a rejuvenated Nadal, who eased to a 6-4 6-1 victory over world number two Andy Murray on Wednesday.
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“I’m going to get ready for that one and hopefully I’ll be able to play at my best”.
Murray ended up landing only 43 percent of his first serves, and only 38 percent in the second set.
Entering a match on the wrong end of a 15-6 ATP H2H record, Andy Murray’s mission to secure second spot in the year-end Emirates ATP Rankings with a victory over Rafael Nadal was always likely to be tough going.
The misfiring Murray serve was being continually pressured by Nadal and he finally forged a decisive break at 5-4 up, cushioning a backhand volley to seal the set. He’s having an incredible year, No2 in the world, so unsafe indoors, especially at home.
“I had a few hair in my eye and I just wanted to get rid of it. That literally took two seconds”.
Murray, meanwhile, knows he must now in all probability beat Stan Wawrinka if he is also to progress to the stage that – due to the curse of his generation – he has only made three times. Also I didn’t help myself out there today. Bringing his trademark grit and depth of shot to face Murray, it just wasn’t enough as the Brit brought his best to the big moments, triumphing 6-4 6-4.
In the other group, Roger Federer has already qualified for the semi-finals, while world number one Novak Djokovic needs to beat Tomas Berdych in his last round-robin match on Thursday.
Andy Murray will have to brush himself down, put yesterday’s disappointment behind him and then raise his game against Stan Warwinka on Friday if he is to go any further in the ATP World Tour Finals.
Wawrinka, who acknowledges he played appallingly against Nadal but improved markedly in beating David Ferrer on Wednesday, has won six of 14 matches against Murray, including the last two.
The trend for singles matches this week has been for a competitive first set to be followed by a whitewash of a second, but Nishikori took the attack to Federer to retrieve the break and then benefited from his opponent’s lapse in concentration. That means I am happy.
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It looked like being another bad day for Wawrinka when Ferrer broke serve to lead 3-1. Sometimes he can make a bunch of errors and then in the space of a couple of games can completely change and start hitting winners from all over the court. The two-time grand slam champion prevailed 7-5 6-2 to keep alive his hopes of reaching the semi-final.
