Kei Nishikori through to the quarterfinals with a convincing win over David Ferrer
Kei Nishikori continued his good run at the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-3,6-3 win over David Ferrer in the fourth round. The Spaniard struggled to win points on his first serve in the opening set and committed 14 unforced errors against just four winners. The No. 5 seed broke Ferrer’s serve twice in the first set. Ferrer did not capitalise on his two break point opportunities to trail by a set after 38 minutes.
Ferrer broke Nishikori’s serve in the first game of the second set, but couldn’t consolidate it as the Japanese No. 1 levelled scores at 1-1 thanks to couple of unforced errors from the Spaniard’s racket. Nishikori broke Ferrer’s serve again in the eighth game as he compiled a 65% win percentage to go with his 17 winners for the set.
Nishikori upped his game in the third set with his precision forehand winners giving very little time for the Spaniard to dictate rallies from the back of the court. The Japanese converted two of his four break point chances and did not provide a single opportunity for Ferrer to come back into the match. Ferrer committed 18 unforced errors in the third set to go with just 2 winners to miss out on a quarterfinal spot in Melbourne.
Nishikori hit a total of 44 winners in the match to Ferrer’s 14. The No. 5 seed will take on the defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka for a spot in the semifinals.