Cilic, Nishikori Win Tokyo Openers; Murray, Nadal In Action Tuesday In Beijing
Former US Open finalists Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori won their opening round matches Monday in Tokyo.
Home favorite and 2-time champion Nishikori dropped the first set before cruising past lucky loser Donald Young 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
“I wasn’t hitting enough topspin, and he was playing well. He was in the mood to attack and to come in, and he made all his shots,” Nishikori said. “It’s been a while since I played singles, so I needed some time to get back into the rhythm.”
Young replaced Nicolas Almagro who withdrew from the event.
2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic also went the distance in ousting 2015 Tokyo finalist Benoit Paire 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
“I was returning well in the first set, but he started playing better in the second set. Before the match I knew that he would be dangerous even if I went up in the score,” Cilic said.
“I was missing too many balls and not making him play in the critical situations. In the third set I went back to basics. In the second set I didn’t serve too well, so I tried to get my first serve percentage up.”
Joao Sousa, who is next for Nishikori, also advanced along with Fernando Verdasco.
Tuesday sees Gael Monfils, David Goffin and Nick Kyrgios in action.
In Beijing, The top three seeds Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic will make their debuts Tuesday. Murray meets Italian veteran Andreas Seppi.
Nadal, who won the title in 2005 and reached the final in 2013, also faces Italian opposition in Paolo Lorenzi while Raonic collides with Florian Mayer.
Dominic Thiem also tests Alexander Zverev, Richard Gasquet gets Sam Querrey and Grigor Dimitrov battles Steve Johnson.
Earlier today, Lucas Pouille, David Ferrer and Roberto Bautista Agut were winners.
TUESDAY BEIJING SCHEDULE
NATIONAL TENNIS STADIUM start 12:30 pm
WTA – [14] P. Kvitova (CZE) vs [Q] Y. Wang (CHN)
Not Before 2:30 pm
ATP – P. Lorenzi (ITA) vs [2] R. Nadal (ESP)
ATP – [1] A. Murray (GBR) vs A. Seppi (ITA)
Not Before 7:30 pm
WTA – [Q] A. Riske (USA) vs S. Zhang (CHN)
Not Before 9:00 pm
ATP – [PR] F. Mayer (GER) vs [3] M. Raonic (CAN)
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