Agence France Presse
Washington, August 5: Reigning US Open champion Marin Cilic and runner-up Kei Nishikori advanced to the third round of the ATP and WTA Washington Open in hard-fought matches that finished early Wednesday morning.
Japan’s fifth-ranked Nishikori rallied to beat Australian James Duckworth 6-7 (8/10), 6-1, 6-4 while Croatia’s eighth-ranked Cilic defeated 77th-ranked South Korean teen Chung Hyeon 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 in their first hard court appearances on the road to this year’s US Open. “It wasn’t easy to put him away,” Cilic said after the game. “He’s a great counterpuncher.”
Next in Nishikori’s path will be the winner of a Wednesday match between Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer and Slovenia’s Blaz Rola.
The 25-year-old Asian No. 1, playing his first match since pulling out of Wimbledon in the second round with a calf injury, fought back after dropping a tense tie-breaker to seize command of the match.
“From the second set I started playing better, made less unforced errors, was more aggressive,” Nishikori said. “I was happy with how I played after the first set.”
Cilic booked a third-round meeting with American Sam Querrey, who fired 26 aces to oust Japan’s Go Soeda 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
In women’s first-round matches, Russian top seed Ekaterina Makarova downed Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck 7-5, 7-5 and Aussie second seed Samantha Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, defeated France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-2 for her 500th career match victory.
