Japan’s Kei Nishikori defeated the big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic, 6-4, 7-6(0) today in Memphis to successfully defend his U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships.
“It’s amazing to defend a title for the first time, especially here,” Nishikori said. “I had a great memory from last year and I’m playing great.”
The win gave Nishikori his fourth ATP World Tour title. He has taken Michael Chang as his new coach and improves to 11-2 this season.
Nishikori secured an early break in the third game of the match and despite 20 aces from Karlovic, he took the second-set tiebreak at love, and the final in 90 minutes.
“He’s really fast,” Karlovic said. “He hits winners from any position on the court. That’s his game. He returned really well.”
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis