Nishikori, Matosevic, Feli, Istomin in Today’s Memphis Men’s Semis

Semi-Finalist Nishikori-San

Kei Nishikori took care of business in Memphis yesterday, blitzing Marin Cilic 6-4 6-2 to reach his 2nd ATP semi this year. In his first tournament back since Australia, the top man from Japan has been dominating his opponents all week.

Nishikori will next face Marinko Matosevic, who won 6-7 6-2 6-4 over a still off form Alexandr Dolgopolov who struggled to handle Matosevic’s heavy serve. The win will help take some pressure off Matosevic who had previously only won 1 ATP match this year as he looks ahead to defend his ranking points from making the finals in Delray last year.

Feliciano Lopez, another player who has found renewed success in Memphis, dispatched Jack Sock 6-4 6-3, in a match where Sock couldn’t hold his serve at key times and had to call the trainer as well. Feli was clutch on serve himself. Lopez will get dynamite Denis Istomin in the other men’s semi. Istomin was too much for Michael Russell, winning 6-4 7-6 in a bit of a topsy tursy match. Istomin has also been striking the ball well this week and was able to keep Russell from threatening him on the return side even if he wasn’t that sharp breaking Russell’s serve.