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© 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Nishikori survives scare against Karlovic; Osaka, Pliskova, Keys advance at Australian Open
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Yubaru
Nishikori was down 2 sets in his first match at the tournament and won because his opponent withdrew due to muscle spasms brought on by the heat. Today he was pushed to 5 sets. This does not bode well for a deep run here!
fxgai
That says it all really. Ivo is always a tricky opponent with such a giant serve, but Kei did the business again.
Well Ivo Karlovic matches being decided in final set tie-breakers is a garden variety result, as is young qualifiers coming out guns a blazing before running out of gas.
The biggest issue I see for Kei is that he is drawn in the Djokovic quarter.
The Original Wing
...as is Nishikori bowing out of every significant tournament he's ever played in, if that's the game you'd like to play. But let's talk about what's really happening, rather than trying to spin things by making sweeping generalizations. And what's really happening is 1) blowing a 2-set lead to the #74 player in the world, following 2) a sure loss to the #174 player in the first round, which was only salvaged due to Majchrzak's in-match injury which hampered his play in sets 3 and 4, and finally led to him retiring in the 5th. What's really happening is 10 sets of tennis and 2 near-losses in the first 2 rounds against much inferior opponents.
Nishikori has not come to Melbourne ready to play, and that's putting it very mildly.
The Original Wing
"I feel more comfortable playing this Slam than others." -Nishikori, post-match.
Yikes.
fxgai
Yikes
Pukey2
Talk about putting a positive spin on things - the results of the last two matches are nothing to feel good about. First, a qualifier ranked outside the top 100. And then a 39 year old ranked outside the top 50. 39!!! Nishikori will have to pull his socks up now, or he won't even get to see a seeded player, let alone Đoković.
Pukey2
That's strange. The biggest issue I see is that he scraped through in 5 sets against two very lowly ranked players. Blinded by love?
fxgai
lol, win and there’s a negative spin on it from some...