Nishikori and Del Potro, surging phenoms, face off
Kei Nishikori, Japan, 18
Juan Martin Del Potro, Argentina, 19
In a matchup of teenage phenoms, Kei Nishikori, the 18-year-old from Japan, plays Juan Martin Del Potro, the 19-year-old from Argentina, at 6:30 p.m. this Monday — Labor Day — evening at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The two young players set up their clash via five-set victories Saturday night in Flushing Meadows. In Louis Armstrong, Nishikori topped fourth-seeded David Ferrer, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, a triumphant defeat of last year’s Spanish semifinalist. The 126th-ranked Nishikori is the first Japanese to reach the fourth round of a major since 1995, and his likely surge in the rankings represents a huge step forward for his country. With his slight, 5-foot-10 build and precocious sense of the moment, Nishikori plays well beyond the years of an individual born in 1989. Through the first round of the U.S. Open, when Nishikori beat 28th-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina in four sets, the youngster had converted an excellent 42 percent of his break-point chances. He won his first tour event at Del Ray Beach, in Florida, beating James Blake in the final.
Ai Sugiyama, the 32-year-old Japanese pro who has played in 57 straight Grand Slam women’s singles draws, seemed to sense the siginificance of Nishikori’s defeat of Ferrer as she watched from the stands.
Ai Sugiyama, applauding for victorious countryman Kei Nishikori at Louis Armstrong Stadium, had lost earlier Saturday night, 6-2, 6-1, to Serena Williams at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Nishikori blew a fifth-set match point on his serve, but won anyway.
The 6-foot-6, 172-pound Del Potro, is truly a colt (that’s what “potro” means in Spanish), with overpowering force and tactical consistency. His sprawling defeat of the ornery 24-year-old Gilles Simon of France, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, showed the increasing undeniability of Del Potro, who has won the last four tournaments he has entered — 19 straight matches at Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel (Austria), Los Angeles and Washington.
Del Potro’s five-set defeat of Gilles Simon on Saturday represented the Argentine's 22nd straight victorious match.
All of this information and circumstance, presented here clinically to the GameFace reader, imbues Monday’s match with unpredictability, fervor and anticipated excellence.
The winner of the young men's fourth-round encounter would play the winner of the match between 10th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and sixth-seeded Andy Murray of Great Britain. Top-ranked Spaniard Rafael Nadal, would likely await in the semifinal.
— Max
Fourth-seeded David Ferrer walks to his post-match press conference Saturday night at about a quarter to 11. The Spaniard said his winning opponent, Kei Nishikori, has a bright future. Sixth-seeded Dinara Safina, in the pink shirt, is behind Ferrer, on her way to Interview Room 2.
(all photos by Max J. Dickstein)
