Three French home favourites up, three French home favourites down.
While he might have disappointed the Parisian faithful for the third straight match, Kei Nishikori advanced to the Round of 16 at Roland Garros for the fourth consecutive year. The Japanese superstar defeated former World No. 6 Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
Nishikori is now 10-2 against players competing at their home Grand Slams, including a 6-2 record against Frenchmen at Roland Garros. It was an impressive two-hour, one-minute performance by the No. 19 seed, who was forced to battle back from two sets to one down against Benoit Paire just two days ago.
Despite getting a late start to his 2018 season due to a right wrist injury, Nishikori has quickly worked his way back to form on the red dirt. He advanced to his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final on clay in Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal), and reached the quarter-finals in Rome before falling in a tightly-contested three-setter against Novak Djokovic.
Nishikori was not broken in his first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Simon, hitting 37 winners to cruise past the Frenchman. He will next battle clay sensation Dominic Thiem, the No. 7 seed, or Italian Matteo Berrettini. If Nishikori does face Thiem, who has reached back-to-back semi-finals on the Parisian terre battue, he will bring confidence to the court knowing he has won both of his FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against the Austrian, including a victory on clay in Rome two years ago.
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