Murray beats Nishikori to set up Montreal Masters final clash with Djokovic

I was going to make a sarcastic remark about how Murray was too tall, Nishikori was saving his energy, or that he was tired (and no one else was) like the media and posters often make when Nishikori loses (he's never tired when he wins!), but the media, in true form, beat me to it: "Murray, 2009 and 2010 Canadian champion, preyed upon a tapped-out Nishikori who may have run out of puff after winning a late-night match 24 hours earlier."

So tell me... did Djokovic also not play a game just 24 hours earlier in which he barely won? Then if it was a problem of fatigue from JUST having finished another round, why is it Djokovic could go through so easily here but Nishikori get put out easily by Murray?

Enough of the excuses! Murray won, and Murray and Nishikori are both great players, so it's just tough luck.

He seemed to had suffered an injury to his lower leg. I don't think he was fatigued.

Ocgoodtimes: "He seemed to had suffered an injury to his lower leg."

So why didn't he forfeit? No excuses, please.

why is it Djokovic could go through so easily here but Nishikori get put out easily by Murray?

I'm no expert, but maybe it's because Djokovic played an unseeded player while Nishikori got beat by a higher ranked and better player. Murray controlled the match and it's obvious Kei needs to improve his game to beat the top 3.

mrkobayashi::"Murray controlled the match and it's obvious Kei needs to improve his game to beat the top 3."

Agreed, but you never hear the 'he played a better player' excuse when he beats someone seeded 43 or other such low seeded players to get to a high spot to begin with. He beat Nadal, which is pretty amazing, and then lost to Murray. That's just the way it works, and keeps the top players competitive. I'm tired of the whole "Samurai spirit" when he wins, regardless of whom he plays against, and "He was just tired" when he loses, as though no one else playing was.

He plays tennis like a SMAP singer sings. Off key. He is just not good enough and got lucky to move this far.

As my Scottish buddy always said, RIP to him.

If Murray wins, he is British. If he loses, he is Scottish.

AFP is not some biased Japanese media org, is it? May be they are just reporting.

But here's another excuse for you - Kei won in Washington last week, where Murray crashed out in the first round in order to enjoy some rest! So Murray would have been the fresher having not played several extra rounds like Kei did, but nonetheless a doughnut is no good. Not that I saw the match. Well done to Muzza for getting back to 2nd in the rankings.

smithinjapan:

Yes indeed. But also, didn't Murray play his quarter-final match AFTER Nishikori played his (someone correct me if I'm wrong)? So why isn't Murray "tapped-out"? And Nishikori beat Nadal 6-2 6-4, or something like that. It didn't go to an epic 5-setter.

He beat Nadal, which is pretty amazing,

As much as I like Nadal, he's been beaten by lowly-ranked players left, right and centre ever since he came back from his long lay-off. So this isn't surprising. Not one bit.

DaDude:

If Murray wins, he is British. If he loses, he is Scottish.

Oh puleeez, get over it.

I personally was pretty disgusted (but not at all surprised) by NHK's tennis coverage. I know what BS stands for. Instead of calling the programme 'ATP Masters 1000', they might as well call it the Nishikori Kei Show. I had the TV on in the background on the night before the match with Nadal, and they were still showing a repeat of Nishikori's previous match with Goffin. Next morning, 'coverage' started at 7:30am on NHK, but with the Nishikori-Nadal match delayed due to Djokovic's match, guess what? Instead of showing the match going on then, BS decides to show the Goffin match again (making it a second repeat at the very least). Only when Djokovic was on the verge of defeat did they start showing his match live, down one set and 3-3 in the tie-break, and then......they stop the coverage again. This is a number one player, for god's sake. They did show Djokovic with match point against him and him eventually winning that set, but then again decided to show Nishokori stats and repeats again, starting from his very first match!!!!! I mean, FFS, SHOW SOME LIVE TENNIS!!!

What is NHK going to show tomorrow morning, now that there's no Japanese player? Here's an idea, skip the final and show some Nishikori matches from earlier this week.

Puke: Totally agree! It was the "Nishi Tennis Event" according to NHK. Talk about nationalism, but then again, Abe is in control of this tv here.

@Pukey Yep. I gave up watching sport on Japanese TV, well, watching Japanese TV at all, after watching highlights of European club games in which Japanese players were involved. I can honestly remember watching highlights of games and not knowing the final scores of those games or knowing the scores but not seeing all the goals scored. Footage of 10-yard sideways passes, interceptions and wild blasts into row Z by Japanese players was seen as more important.

Why are some people so concerned about what the media says ? For goodness sake watch the game,most whingers posting here obviously didn't,then make your own mind up..yes Kei was injured,you'd know that if you'd have seen his previous couple of tournaments,but he was never going to win... people who watch the game don't need the medias opinion nor should they care about it

As my Scottish buddy always said, RIP to him.

If Murray wins, he is British. If he loses, he is Scottish.

Why would he always say "RIP to him"?

aint: Just wish to see on NHK non-biased coverage. That is all. In NY, they do not just show Yankees on the tube for the sports section. It is well represented.

@mytimels. You seemed surprised about the coverage. Why? It's always been the same. Japan isn't really a nation of tennis lovers so it's understandable they focus on Nishikori.

I have been watching Nishikori's steady rise up the ratings and reckon he is a really good, un-temperamental and inventive player who well deserves to be where he is. Nothing can be done by the tournament organisers to compensate a player who has a really tough match and as a consequence struggles for energy the next day, that's literally the luck of the draw. But players should get together and demand two things; equal rest times for all players between rounds, and NO late scheduled matches. As for Nishikori's fitness, I've never seen Kimiko Date-Krumm (surely the most attractive Japanese player so far and still playing at 40!) run out of puff - hasn't she run the occasional marathon? Maybe Kei Nishikori should do some more stamina training!

Why would he always say "RIP to him"?

I am saying RIP to my buddy who passed away.

As big a Kei-san fan as I am, I still realize that Djokovic (World No. 1) on his worse day would beat Kei-san nine out of ten times. Gokurosama, Kei-san. See you (and everybody else) in Cincy this coming week !

but the media, in true form, beat me to it: "Murray, 2009 and 2010 Canadian champion, preyed upon a tapped-out Nishikori who may have run out of puff after winning a late-night match 24 hours earlier."

You do realize that it's an AFP media source, don't you? It sounds like you didn't read this article carefully, and only picked up on one quote and blew it totally out of proportion. What makes it worse is that you erroneously thought that it was a Japanese media reporter who made the comment, but didn't stop to realize that it was from a source in Montreal as it is taking place in Montreal. Tsk tsk tsk.

Enough of the excuses! Murray won, and Murray and Nishikori are both great players, so it's just tough luck.

Doesn't sound like they were making an excuse to me. Now if the exact quote was, "Nishikori only lost because he was too tired to play", but there was no such quote like that. You are the only one who is saying such a thing.

Apparently Nishikori has dropped out of this week's Cincinnati tournament, due to tiredness. But he'll be back for the US Open. I trust he will go deep there.

I watched the match and was disappointed how it ended. I'm a fan, but Nishikori basically gave up the last couple of games and was not chasing down balls as he usually does. I don't know if it was injury or fatigue, but he had no fight and deserves some of the boos that he got during the last couple of points. The foreign commentators suggested an injury, but so far I haven't heard anything. My two teenage boys called "tanking".