Kei Nishikori (31 = Nissin Foods), the world’s 41st Japanese ace, has won three tournament victories for the first time since returning from his right elbow injury in September last year. He defeated Bedene (Slovenia), who was 59 in the first match, 6-4 and 6-4 to advance to the top 8. “I am happy to play good tennis. I hope he improves.” In the quarterfinals, they will face the winner of Harris (South Africa), who is 81st, and Krajinović (Serbia), who is 33rd.

Nishikori lost just one point on her serve in the first set. If you score points on all 12 occasions with the first serve and defeat the service game of the first opponent, you can easily maintain your service game. I took the first set in advance.

When I went into the second set, there was a scene where the opponent’s attack was dangerous, saying, “The opponent got better and it was very tough.” However, he defeated the opponent’s service game from 4 oars and never gave up his service game. After deciding his back on the third match point, he finished straight.

It is the first time he has won three tournament wins since advancing to the top eight at Wimbledon in July 2019. Although he lost the first round last week, this is his second best eight of the season, after Rotterdam, which closed March 7th. Certainly the demodulation of Nishikori is progressing step by step.

◆ The Dubai Championships will be distributed on WOWOW on demand from March 14-20.