Kei Nishikori turned back time in Hong Kong and reached the semi-finals for the first time in 3.5 years
Author: Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday, January 3, 2025
Kei Nishikori Turning back time, the year 2025 has begun. The former world No. 4 reached his first ATP semi-final in Hong Kong since 2021, defeating Cameron Norrie 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 against 19-year-old players in the semi-finals Shang Juncheng (aka Jerry).
Shang defeated Fabian Marozsan, who defeated top seed Andrey Rublev 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 16 .
“It was a long time ago,” Nishikori, 35, said after knocking out his third top-10 talent this week. “I'm very happy with my level and being able to beat top players. Physically I feel good.
Enter the semi-finals pic.twitter.com/8ydxU2wCFo
— Kei Nishikori (@keinishikori) January 3, 2025
“I have no expectations going into this game and I feel zero pressure. I know it's a very strong field. I'm taking it one game at a time and Jerry is a great player so I have to stay tough.”
Kei Nishikori will return to the top 100 for the first time since October 2021 in next week's rankings. He underwent left hip surgery in 2022 and has generally had little luck staying healthy. But when he's healthy, he can still dazzle — and the momentum is still there.
“Of course I had a lot of injuries, but I never felt like I was done,” he said at Roland Garros in Paris last year. “I never lost motivation to come back.”
Alexandre Muller defeated fourth seed Arthur Fils in the bottom half to reach the semi-finals with Jaume Munar, who defeated second seed Loren Lorenzo Musetti. Currently, no seeded player has entered the semi-finals of Hong Kong Station.
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