Ferrer immovable force

Today could have seen a terrific struggle between two terriers on the tennis court but David Ferrer played as if he had been chosen.  It might have been anyone at the other end - the fact that it was Kei Nishikori was immaterial as things developed, at least for two sets.

Having tuned up the engines nicely against Baghdatis, Ferrer was firing on all cylinders in the hit up prior to this fourth round encounter, and it surprised us all when a couple of them misfired in his first two service games.  He still withstood the pressure from Nishikori, the Japanese 16th seed quick to recognise the rare opportunities to crack the Spanish veneer, but unable to locate the machinery powerful enough to break through.

So we had a lot of baseline material from which to react, mainly with applause at the final shots for winners or second last shots forcing errors.  Ferrer appeared better placed to do the most damage if ever any were to be portrayed on the scoreboard, and it only required four games for a Nishikori double fault to put the exclamation mark on the first service break.

Ferrer was tidy and this annoyed Nishikori who was much more liberal when it came to the unforced commission of errors.  At 2-5 Kei was expelled from the set, broken again on the end of another backhand error.  Ferrer ahead 6-2.

Set two showcased another period of solid Ferrer tennis, again so mean to his opponent allowing minimal opportunities to achieve any semblance of momentum.  Amazingly, he only gained two break points on the Nishikori serve but in his usual efficient manner converted both.  The result was deserved because his output was clearly the better of the two.  Maybe the final score of 6-1 flattered Ferrer somewhat and unfairly painted Nishikori as out of his league, but Kei never troubled the Spaniard for any length of time.

The final set saw Nishikori and Ferrer as we had hoped they would be from the start - in a real contest.  Initially when Ferrer had broken the 16th seed in the first game the match appeared done, but despite the continued flood of errors from Nishikori he found a way to break back against the seemingly impregnable Ferrer serve for 3-3.

Body language unchanged, Ferrer went back about his business and later, when no one was looking, summoned up the means to once again break through the Nishikori defence to lead 5-4.

Serving out the match proved as mundane to Ferrer as putting the top back on the bottle of Gatorade.
He performed the task with as much ease. 6-2 6-1 6-4 and another quarter final.