Kei Nishikori‘s pursuit of a first title in nearly three years is on course with the No.2 seed disposing of 2017 champion Grigor Dimitrov at the Brisbane International on Thursday night.
The Japanese world No.9 rallied from 1-4 down to prevail 7-5 7-5 and set a semi-final showdown with unseeded Jeremy Chardy after the Frenchman’s early victory over Nishikori’s countryman, Yasutaka Uchiyama.
“I want to go into the top 5. That’s my next goal. … I think I’m playing great tennis again.”
Kei Nishikori’s spirits are high after making the #BrisbaneTennis semi-finals for the first time since 2017 pic.twitter.com/VffEJqbuPZ
— #BrisbaneTennis (@BrisbaneTennis) January 3, 2019
Nishikori has lost his past nine finals dating back to Memphis 2016 and has the chance to break his drought with two more wins in Brisbane.
The 29-year-old was a runner-up to Dimitrov in the 2017 Brisbane final and now leads the Bulgarian 5-1 in the pair’s head-to-head series.
World No.4 in 2015, the lightning-fast talent has bounced out and back in the world’s top 20 since but feels the latest upward swing hasn’t yet peaked.
“I’m trying to go top five, that’s my next goal,” he said after the win. “I was playing great tennis (last year) and I think I’m doing it again now this week.
“I was expecting a very tough match; I thought we both played great tennis and I’m very happy with the way I played today.”
Dimitrov glided through his first five service games but was exploited by the No.2 seed when he showed the slightest sign of tightness.
Kei’d in! 🗝
Kei Nishikori is near his vintage best in a 7-5 7-5 win over Grigor Dimitrov in a re-match of the 2017 #BrisbaneTennis final
Next up: A SF meeting with Jeremy Chardy pic.twitter.com/79i0XfANJw
— #BrisbaneTennis (@BrisbaneTennis) January 3, 2019
Two baseline errors and a double fault gave Nishikori his first look and, on his third break point, pounced to break and then hold serve to claim a high-quality first set.
The Bulgarian was again troubled on serve to open the second set but he still grabbed the first break to jump ahead 2-0.
Dimitrov then produced a superb backhand winner and big serve to stave off an immediate break back and appeared set to force a decider at 4-1.
Nishikori kept coming though, pouncing on another sloppy moment to erase the advantage in the seventh game.
And, in a repeat of the first set, he made the most of another tight service game at 5-5 to clinch the decisive break and eventually close it out in one hour 41 minutes.