Kei Nishikori needed to work hard on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters as he stepped up his bid for a place at next month’s Nitto ATP Finals in London. The 10th-seeded Japanese star knocked out Adrian Mannarino of France 7-5, 6-4 over 88 minutes in the second round.
Nishikori needs to reach the Paris semi-finals for a chance of competing at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 11-18 November, for a fourth time (2014-16). He will next come up against seventh-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who has already clinched a berth in London, or Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia on Thursday.
American John Isner, who is one place behind Nishikori in 10th position in the ATP Race To London, struck 33 aces and lost 13 of his service points against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in a 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(1) victory over two hours and 18 minutes.
Eighth seed Isner, who won his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open presented by Itau (d. Zverev) in April, must reach the Paris final to potentially qualify. He will play Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the third round of the final tournament of the regular ATP World Tour season.
Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Nishikori and Isner are all in contention for the two remaining singles spots at the elite eight-player Nitto ATP Finals.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2CPYxY2
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