Nishikori reaches Eastbourne semis

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Nishikori reaches Eastbourne semis

Kei Nishikori has reached the Eastbourne semi finals after ousting Wilfried’s Tsonga’s killer Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-3 to set a fourth meeting with the world number 30 Janko Tipsarevic.

The 21-year-old Japanese eased past the Czech thanks to a couple of precious breaks which saw him go four games ahead in the first set and three in the second term. On the other side, Stepanek, who had previously defeated the Queens finalist and great-shaped Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, could only hold several services. Nishikori, who is to near his best performance of the year, has thus set his fourth meeting of the season with the Serbian favorite Tipsarevic.

Janko has made a pretty easy progress when he defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-6 in the quarter finals. The 27-year-old Serb converted just a break come in the second set and won 86 percent of service points. The world number 30 leads the head to head series with 59^th-ranked Nishikori 3-0, his most recently win coming at the Chennai event. Previously to that, the Serb had defeated Nishikori at the Belgrade and Delray Beach tournaments.

Nishikori has made a great start in Eastbourn, ousting Evgeny Kirillov of Russia 7-5, 6-1 and Rainer Schuttler 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. On the other side, Tipsarevic had some hard times against Queens revelation James Ward whom he edged in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the opening day. Finally, the second term brought him a 6-3, 7-6 win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.

Concerning the second half of the table, Igor Kunitsyn stunned Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter finals to meet the world number 51 Andreas Seppi in the next round. The 71sdt-ranked Russian will meet Seppi for the first time ever, but will start the clash as a second favorite. After a second set loss, Seppi managed to overcome Oliver Rochus of Belgium in three sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3.

Previously to the quarter final win, Kunitsyn had defeated Illya Marhenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 and favorite Pablo Andujar 7-5, 6-1 in the first term. As for Seppi, his previous victories have come against Donald Young of United States whom he ousted 7-6, 6-3 and in front of Tobias Kamke whom the Italian edged after surviving an early scare 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Eastbourne Prize Money and points:

Winner – 71,000 euro and 250 points ATP

Finalist – 37,400 euro and 150 points ATP

Semi finalist – 20,270 euro and 90 points ATP

Quarter finalist – 11,550 euro and 45 points ATP

R16 – 6,800 euro and 20 points ATP

R32 – 4,030 euro and zero points ATP

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