Last year Kei Nishikori had to give up after only 34 minutes. He had to give up for the third time at the lawn tournament in Halle because of injury. At the new adition of the match in the Round of Sixteen against Karen Khachanov he played two full sets. But that just wasn't enough to get through to the Quarter-Finals at the 26th GERRY WEBER OPEN, the Russian was just too powerful today and won clearly 6:2, 6:2.
At the start of the Round of Sixteen match it wasn't looking good for the Japanese. After fending off two break points he had to give up his first serve to the young Russian. From the start Khachanov was the more aggressive player with his hard and precise shots from the baseline.
The Japanese tennis stars' shots got more variable as the match went on and he played well by the net, there was no chance of a break in the 1st set, though. Because he made too many mistakes, Nishikori stated after the match : "That was my own fault today, I just made too many mistakes."
Khachanov service was accurate and he profited from his powerful first serves. He took the Japaneses' serve again and won the 1st set after 39 minutes.
The 2nd set began the same as the 1st for the World's No. 7 with a break against him. Khachanov carried on playing a forceful match and Nishikori didn't stand a chance in his own service. The Japanese wasn't giving up though, and, much to the delight of the audience, he put up a great fight against losing the match and got his third service through with a spectacular rally 40:0. Enlightened by this success he had his first and only break chance in the whole of the match. But last years Semi-Finalist had an answer to that, too. He unpacked his hammering service again and fended off the break point by aceing. After 77 minutes Khatchanov had his first match point bringing the score to 6:2, 6:2.
In the Quarter-Finals the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut now awaits the Russian.
