Nishikori Survives Again; Next: Nadal

Believe it or not, Kei Nishikori, the best deciding-set player in the Open Era, has lost deciding sets in the past; he's just refusing to do so this fortnight at Roland Garros.

The seventh-seeded Japanese won his eighth consecutive five-setter on Monday, denying home favourite Benoit Paire a place in the quarter-finals 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-2, 6-7(8), 7-5 to match his best showing in Paris.

In a match that was suspended because of darkness on Sunday night, the two resumed play at the start of the fourth, and the back-and-forth tussle continued under an overcast sky.

Nishikori had two match points in the fourth-set tie-break, but Paire saved them both in a nervy tie-break from both sides. But in the fifth, Nishikori showed his deciding-set prowess once more, breaking Paire at 3-5 and again at 5-5 to make his third Roland Garros quarter-final.

Nishikori has now won nearly 75 per cent of his deciding sets (132-45), which includes a 23-6 mark in five-setters and a 6-1 record at Roland Garros.

View Nishikori's FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record

“He was serving for the match, and I just tried to play one point at a time,” Nishikori said.

The Japanese will next face 11-time champion Rafael Nadal, who dismissed Argentina's Juan Ignacio Londero in straight sets on Sunday. Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 10-2, including all three matchups on clay.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour http://bit.ly/311sfmB