Japan’s Nishikori ousts Tomic at London Olympics

Fourth seed David Ferrer and fifteenth seed Kei Nishikori defeated their opponents in first round matches in the top half of the men’s singles Olympic draw. They were better than Vasek Pospisil and Bernard Tomic respectively.

Although 5th-ranked Spaniard Ferrer is a clay court specialist, he nevertheless reached this year’s Wimbledon quarterfinal, while Canadian Pospisil has not made it past the first Wimbledon round yet. In the first set of their Olympic appearance, Ferrer and World No. 85 Pospisil were tied until 3-3, when the Spaniard took his opponent’s serve for the second time and never looked back again. 30-years old Ferrer had a significantly better first serve percentage (68%-52%) and made seven unforced errors less than the Canadian on the other side of the net. The second set was a repetition of the previous one. Pospisil committed fourteen unforced errors and lost two of his serves. He managed to broke Ferrer’s serve once, but it was too late – the match ended with 6-4, 6-4.

Fifteenth seed Japanese Kei Nishikori, who dropped out of 2012 Wimbledon in the third round, got the better of 19-years old Australian prospect Bernard Tomic. Both of the players gave away their serves once in a very tight first set, but 22-years old Nishikori was more composed in the tie-break. The second set had a similar plot as the first one. Both competitors held to their serves successfully, but it was the Japanese who remained more consistent in the tie-break, sailing to a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) victory.

Tags 2012 London Olympics Bernard Tomic David Ferrer Kei Nishikori Vasek Pospisil