Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori swept to a straight sets win over Spain’s David Ferrer to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on Monday.
US Open finalist Nishikori won 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in 2hr 7min on Rod Laver Arena and will now play Swiss defending champion Stan Wawrinka for a place in the semi-finals.
It will be 25-year-old Nishikori’s second quarter-final in Melbourne and his third overall under coach and former French Open champion Michael Chang.
Nishikori has a losing 1-2 record against Wawrinka.
“I am always prepared to play five sets against David because we always play long matches,” Nishikori said.
“I am really surprised that I have finished it in straight sets.
“I have been playing really well. I had three good matches before today and I was hitting through the ball well. I’m really happy to win today.”
It was a strong performance by the Japanese superstar, who hit 43 winners and restricted Ferrer to just 14 winners.
He broke the Spaniard’s serve six times and lost his service just once, while winning 72 per cent of his first serves.
Significantly, Nishikori won the majority of the nine shots or more rallies, which usually are the domain of the tigerish Ferrer.
It was Nishikori’s fifth consecutive victory over the tenacious Spanish baseliner and improved his record against him to 7-3.
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE