US Open 2015: Last year's runner-up Kei Nishikori falls at the first hurdle

Nishikori faded in the closing stages here after failing to convert two match points at the end of the fourth set

Paul Newman
Tuesday 01 September 2015 00:02 BST
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Kei Nishikori lost to Benoît Paire
Kei Nishikori lost to Benoît Paire

Twelve months after a stunning sequence of results took him into the US Open final, Kei Nishikori went out of the tournament on the first day here yesterday. The world No 4, who knocked out Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka before losing to Marin Cilic in last year’s final, was beaten 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 by France’s Benoît Paire. The 25-year-old Japanese is the first runner-up to fall at the initial hurdle the following year since Andre Agassi went down to Aaron Krickstein in 1991.

Nishikori missed the recent Cincinnati Masters with an injury and faded in the closing stages here after failing to convert two match points at the end of the fourth set. Paire made the decisive final break in the fifth game of the decider and went on to complete his victory with an ace after three hours and 14 minutes. The world No 41 won the first ATP title of his career at Bastad this summer.

“It’s always very sad to lose in the first round, but I think he was playing good tennis,” Nishikori said. “I don’t think I played badly. Didn’t play great, but still, it’s never easy first match.”

He added: “I don’t know what’s happened today, but I think I’ve been playing well. I think it’s been one of my best years so far. I will just try to focus again for the next couple of months and try to aim for [the World Tour Finals in] London.”

Mardy Fish, who is playing the last tournament of his career after three years in which he has struggled with physical and mental problems, delayed his retirement by at least one match when he beat Marco Cecchinato 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.

“I want to take in everything and enjoy all aspects of this tournament, because it is so great, but sometimes it’s hard,” Fish said afterwards. “I haven’t hit tennis balls for three hours in practice at all. You look at the clock and you’re a bit worried about that. Can I last this long?”

Milos Raonic, who has struggled with injury this summer, beat Tim Smyczek 6-4, 7-6, 6-1. Fernando Verdasco, aged 31, won a battle of the veterans, beating 37-year-old Tommy Haas 3-6, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.

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