Nishikori Sets Shapovalov Showdown

Kei Nishikori has set a blockbuster third-round Citi Open showdown with #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov. The Japanese No. 7 seed beat qualifier Donald Young and the onset of heavy rain to win his opening match in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.

In his first match since reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, the 2015 Citi Open champion posted his seventh victory from as many FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with the American, 6-3, 6-4 before rain returned to wash out the night’s remaining matches.

Fit and healthy again after an ongoing wrist injury, Nishikori has made no secret of his desire to return to the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings by the end of the season, and he looked every bit the Top 10 player he once was against Young. The 28-year-old’s 22 winners more than doubled his opponent’s, and he dropped just seven points on his first serve.

Young was coming off an impressive win over former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the opening round, having won through qualifying to reach the main draw. The World No. 234 did not drop serve once against Wawrinka but was broken twice against Nishikori. Despite having pegged back a break in the third set, he surrendered serve on a string of loose errors at 4-4 before the No. 7 seed served out the result in 84 minutes.

Earlier, No. 3 seed David Goffin rallied from 3-5 down in the third set to deny Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in a two-hour-plus thriller. Both men broke five times during the match but it was the Belgian who prevailed 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5) to set up a third-round clash with #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe.