John Millman’s run at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships nearly came to an end in the first round of qualifying, as the Aussie needed to save three match points to avoid losing against American Bradley Klahn in straight sets. Six days later, the World No. 80 is into the semi-finals of the main draw.
Millman eliminated the last Japanese player remaining, Taro Daniel, 6-4, 6-0 to reach the last four in Tokyo. It is the 30-year-old’s first ATP Tour semi-final since Budapest last April, when he advanced to his maiden tour-level final.
“It’s tricky. The conditions aren’t that easy. It was pretty gusty out there, but really essential to keep good footwork. [I] just had to focus a little more mentally,” Millman said. “But I’m really happy with how I played, how I executed throughout that match, and happy to be through to a semi-final here in Tokyo.”
Millman was expecting, “a really tough, physical match” leading into his showdown with the home favourite, who is also a good friend of his. And Daniel started well by breaking in the first game of their quarter-final. But the Aussie did not let slip the opener, and that proved key.
“I have so much respect for Taro,” Millman said. “I love practising with him, I love playing against him because he always brings a great physicality in all his matches. That first set really could have gone either way. I came out of the box really well in that second set. That was probably the difference today.”
Millman broke the wild card’s serve six times, winning 56 per cent of his return points to triumph in one hour and 19 minutes. Awaiting him in the next round is Reilly Opelka, who dismissed Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama.
World No. 80 Millman has enjoyed a strong stretch of results, reaching the Winston-Salem quarter-finals and winning the Kaohsiung Challenger in the past two months in addition to his success in Tokyo.
“I play pretty well in Japan and I know that I’m capable of playing some pretty good tennis,” Millman said. “This year I probably had a couple rough draws, but I really found a bit of momentum towards the end of this year. [I made the quarter-finals in] Winston-Salem, tough draw at US Open, but then coming to Kaohsiung and winning that tournament really gave me a bit of momentum coming into this Asian swing. I’m very comfortable in Japan. I've played here a lot. I love the conditions here, I love playing in front of the crowds. They love their tennis, and I love playing here."
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/35asJcr
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