Nishikori seals Memphis treble
Kei Nishikori won the Memphis Open for the third time in a row following his win in the final against Kevin Anderson on Sunday.
The Japanese star eased past the South African in straight sets 6-4 6-4 on the hard courts of Memphis in Tennessee.
Anderson had the better of Nishikori on serve, firing 12 aces, but the defending champion battled hard to claim the breaks of serve he needed. Nishikori closed out the championship on his fourth match point.
The real tests for the world number five came in the semi and quarter-finals where he slugged it out over three sets.
“It feels great, of course,” the 25-year-old told atpworldtour.com.
“Today’s match was much different than [the last] couple of matches. I played really solid from the baseline and returned really well.”
Meanwhile, Anderson indicated he would dwell too much on the loss as he has a busy season ahead, starting in Delray Beach this week.
“Being in that stage a few times now in the finals, obviously you want to take it a little bit further, but it wasn’t there,” said the 6ft 8ins right-hander.
“I have a couple of other tournaments coming up now, so I can’t afford to dwell on this.”
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