It was the perfect storyline. Kei Nishikori, who entered the inaugural New York Open without having played a tour-level match since last August due to a wrist injury, was on the verge of making his first ATP World Tour final since 2017 Buenos Aires. 

But top seed Kevin Anderson had something to say about that on Saturday evening, winning six of the final seven points in their semi-final to end Nishikori’s run 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(4). The South African guaranteed his return to the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings as he pursues his first ATP World Tour title since 2015 Winston-Salem. 

“It feels great,” Anderson said. “I didn’t even know that going into it. I know I’ve been close for the last few months. Obviously it’s a great accomplishment being in the Top 10. I was there for just a week a couple years ago and I had a few challenges to face. But I’ve worked really, really hard to get back to this spot.”

It is the 31-year-old’s fourth tour-level final since last August (0-3). Anderson most recently fell in the final of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune against Gilles Simon to open his 2018 ATP World Tour campaign.

Nishikori appeared to have the momentum in the third set, and a 5-1 lead in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series perhaps gave the 28-year-old the edge. But the big-serving Anderson snuffed out a break point at 3-3 with a booming ace and was the steadier player in the decisive tie-break to close out the match.

“I thought I got off to a great start,” Anderson said. “It got really close in the third set. No breaks of serve. I had to fight off one or two close serve games, but put myself in a good spot in a third-set tie-break… I’m really, really pleased to get through today.”

It was still an impressive week for Nishikori, who won the Memphis Open four straight times (2013-2016) before the tournament moved to Long Island this year. Anderson will face a familiar foe in the final.

Second seed Sam Querrey entered Saturday’s semi-finals without a FedEx ATP Head2Head series victory against Adrian Mannarino in three tries.

But Querrey turned around a streak of five consecutive sets lost against the Frenchman to eliminate the left-hander 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3, moving into his first final since winning the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex last August.

“It feels like I beat Rafa[el Nadal] out there. That guy’s always been so tricky. I know it’s my first time beating him and it feels good. I’m so happy to get through that and be in the final. I’m really excited.”

Querrey hit 21 aces to advance to his 18th ATP World Tour final (10-7). He has won his last three championship matches (2016 Delray Beach, 2017 Acapulco, 2017 Los Cabos).

At World No. 25, Mannarino remains the current highest-ranked player without an ATP World Tour title.

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“I think that he was playing well from the middle of the second set,” Mannarino said. “He took his chances in the best moments, so he deserved that win.”

Querrey leads Anderson 8-7 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but the South African has triumphed three of their past four meetings. The American won their only previous match on an indoor hard court, winning their second-round battle at 2012 Memphis.

Did You Know?
Kevin Anderson guaranteed his return to the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since the week of 12 October 2015. If he beats Querrey on Sunday, the South African will achieve a career-best No. 9.

Roger Federer reached his third ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament final on Saturday after beating Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6(3).

The two-time Rotterdam champion moved into the championship match after one hour, 24 minutes and will aim to become the first player in the tournament’s history to win the event on three occasions on Sunday. Federer guaranteed with his quarter-final victory against Robin Haase that he will become the oldest World No. 1 in the history of the ATP Rankings on Monday.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to get out of this one today,” admitted Federer. “It was tough, maybe my best match of the tournament… I am very excited to be in the final here in Rotterdam.”

If Federer goes on to win the title, it will be the 15th year in the 36-year-old’s career that he has won multiple tour-level titles. The right-hander is pursuing trophy No. 97.

The Swiss superstar will meet World No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov for the title after fourth seed David Goffin retired from his semi-final against the Bulgarian with an eye injury while trailing 3-6, 1-0. Federer has won all six previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Dimitrov. If the top seed goes on to win, it will be the 30th time that he defeated a Top 5 opponent in the final to earn a tour-level title.

“He is in great form,” Federer said of Dimitrov. “He had a wonderful season last year. He started solid again this year, so I think he is fresh, ready and eager to go. I enjoy playing against Grigor… I am going to have to try to play aggressive, to play my game and then hope for the best.”

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Did You Know?
Federer has won four of his six FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets.

Grigor Dimitrov has reached his first ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament final, in unfortunate circumstances, after David Goffin was forced to retire with a serious eye injury on Saturday.

The World No. 5, who was serving at 6-3, 0-1 when the incident occurred, hit a forehand passing shot which hit the frame of Goffin’s racquet and deflected the ball into his left eye. The incident is the second freak accident Goffin has fallen victim to in eight months after the 27-year-old injured his right ankle at Roland Garros last year after getting it caught in a tarpaulin cover.

Dimitrov moves into Sunday’s final where he will meet the winner of tonight’s second semi-final, as top seed Roger Federer takes on Italy’s Andreas Seppi.

Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic reached their fourth final of the 2018 ATP World Tour season at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament after beating Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-1, 6-3 on Saturday.

The second seeds continued their impressive unbeaten streak in 2018, which now stands at 18 matches, to beat their opponents in just 55 minutes. The duo won 82 per cent of points on serve and broke the 2015 champions on four occasions to move just one win away from a fourth title in 2018 after earlier title runs in Doha, Auckland and the Australian Open.

The Austrian-Croatian team awaits the winner of Saturday’s evening semi-final where Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram meet third seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

Did You Know?
Marach and Pavic’s last defeat came at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in October 2017 to today’s opponents Rojer and Tecau. The duo has since won 25 consecutive matches with a title run in Stockholm, two victories in Vienna (before withdrawing in the semi-finals), one win as an alternate at the Nitto ATP Finals and 18 triumphs this season.

Dominic Thiem had never lost a match at the Argentina Open (7-0) heading into Friday evening’s quarter-final against home favourite Guido Pella. And while the left-handed Pella produced an inspired performance, the World No. 6 moved into the semi-finals with a 7-6(7), 6-4 victory.

It could be déjà vu for Thiem, who is now within two matches of winning his first clay-court event of the season for the third year in a row. 

After saving five set points prior to the first-set tie-break, Pella earned two set points of his own at 6/4. But Thiem simply was too good in the key moments, earning his 10th tour-level triumph of the campaign. The Austrian will face an in-form Gael Monfils, who saved three of five break points he faced to defeat Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The Frenchman is pursuing his second tour-level title of the season, and will look to turn around what has been a lopsided FedExATP Head2Head rivalry with Thiem. The top seed has triumphed their three clashes. 

Monfils and Thiem were scheduled to play earlier this season in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open semi-finals, but the Austrian was forced to withdraw due to a fever. The Frenchman would go on to claim his seventh ATP World Tour title. Thiem is attempting to continue a streak of three straight seasons with at least one trophy. 

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On the bottom half of the draw, Aljaz Bedene will look to advance to his third ATP World Tour final (2015 Chennai, 2017 Budapest) after upsetting fifth seed Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-4.

The Slovenian extended his record to 2-0 against Schwartzman in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Bedene will play the fifth tour-level semi-final of his career on Saturday, and just his second outside of Chennai (2012, 2015, 2016).

On the other side of the net will be two-time ATP World Tour titlist Federico Delbonis, who battled past 34-year-old Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-5 in one hour, 25 minutes.

It is the first time that the left-hander has battled past the quarter-finals at the tournament, after losing in the final eight twice before (2013, 2015). Delbonis leads the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series 1-0, with their only tour-level meeting coming at 2012 Barcelona.

Did You Know?
Thiem has lost a set 1-6 against Monfils in two of the three meetings in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but eventually won each of those matches.

Kei Nishikori did not play a match after the Rogers Cup last August. So the 28-year-old decided to build up his match toughness on the ATP Challenger Tour to begin the new campaign. And it looks like that move paid off.

The Japanese superstar battled past Moldovan Radu Albot to advance to the semi-finals of the New York Open 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on Friday evening. Nishikori, who won the Memphis Open four years in a row (2013-2016) before the event moved to Long Island this year, is just two matches away from his claiming his first ATP World Tour title since 2016 Memphis.

“It was a very tough start. I think he was playing very good tennis,” Nishikori said. “During the second set I started getting my rhythm back and started playing a little more inside the baseline and everything started working well… [I’m] very happy to win today.”

Including his efforts on the ATP Challenger Tour, Nishikori has now won eight matches in a row, dropping his first set during that period against Albot on Friday evening. But after getting broken three times in the opening set, the World No. 27 faced just one break point in the rest of the match to move on to the final four, where he will play top seed Kevin Anderson, who eliminated #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours, four minutes. 

“I really had to scrap at the end,” Anderson said. “I felt he almost had a little bit of the edge going to 4-4 [in the third set] and fortunately played a great game at 4-4… it’s nice to have served it out.”

The South African is pursuing his first title since 2015 Winston-Salem. Anderson advanced to the final at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune earlier this year  (l. to Simon). But he heads into the semi-finals facing a 1-5 deficit in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Nishikori.

“It seems like he’s hitting the ball pretty well,” Anderson said. “He’s played quite a few matches over the last few weeks so I’m expecting a tough match as always against one of the best players on the [ATP World] Tour.”

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Second seed Sam Querrey is showing the fans in New York just why he is at a career-best ATP Ranking of No. 12, eliminating big-serving 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (5), 7-6(4).

“I couldn’t have served much better,” said Querrey, who lost just six points on serve. “I don’t even know if we went to deuce, and I had good rhythm on my serve, and that’s what freed me up a little bit in the tie-breaks.”

It is Querrey’s first semi-final since winning the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex last August. The 30-year-old owns a 17-17 record in tour-level semi-finals. But it will not be easy, as he faces fourth seed Adrian Mannarino, who eliminated first-time tour-level quarter-finalist Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

The Frenchman, the current highest-ranked player without an ATP World Tour title (World No. 25), owns a 3-0 lead in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Mannarino has won seven of nine sets against the second seed, including a straight-sets victory against Querrey at the Western & Southern Open last year.

It will be the left-hander’s third semi-final since the beginning of October.

“I’m not really thinking about it right now,” Mannarino said of moving to within two matches of his first tour-level trophy. “I’m just happy to be in the semi-finals and we’ll see tomorrow what’s going to happen.”

Did You Know?
Querrey won a higher percentage of second-serve points (11/13, 85 per cent) than Karlovic won first-serve points (42/52, 81 per cent).