The singles semi-finals of the men’s tennis Slovakia Open 2024 (Slovakia/Bratislava, Indoor Hard, ATP Challenger) were held on the 2nd, and Kei Nishikori, ranked 140th in the world, defeated No. 1 seed R. Safiulin 4-6, 3-. He lost in straight sets of 6 and was eliminated. They failed to advance to the finals in an official game for the first time in about 1 year and 5 months.
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＞＞[Video]Nishikori succumbs to Safiurin and loses in the semi-finals, match point highlights ＜＜
Nishikori, 34 years old and former world No. 4, will face No. 3 seed M. Fucsovics (Hungary) in the first round, L. Klein (Slovakia) who is ranked 146th in the world in the second round, and No. 196 in the quarterfinals. He defeated C. Restienne (France) in both sets and advanced to the semi-finals.
On the other hand, Safiullin, who is 27 years old and is ranked 59th in the world, will play in the first round with M. Karol (Slovakia) who is the qualifying winner and is ranked 540th in the world, M. Heusler (Switzerland) who is the 148th ranked winner in the second round, and M. Heusler (Switzerland) who is ranked 148th in the quarterfinals. He advanced by defeating A. Karatsev, who was ranked 313th.
In the semi-finals, which was their first meeting, Nishikori played fast-tempo tennis from the beginning, accumulating points, thanks in part to his winning three matches in full sets. In the first set, both players kept their service games, but in the fifth game, Nishikori hit a return ace to take the lead by a point, but in the end Safiulin’s forehand went out and he broke first.
However, in the sixth game immediately after, he committed a double fault for the first time in the match and was in a pinch, and this time Nishikori’s forehand went wide and allowed him to break back. Then, Nishikori’s service game came at 4-5, and he had three set points at 0-40. Although he won by one point, his forehand was slightly out in the end and he lost the set.
In the second set, Nishikori tried to get back into the swing of things, but perhaps due to fatigue from the heated battle, he gradually started making more mistakes, and he conceded a break in the second game early on. In the return game, he made a sharp return ace, but struggled against Safiurin’s strong serve and was unable to regain control. He was unable to recover until the end and ran out of energy after 1 hour and 31 minutes.
The victorious Safiullin will face either R. Collignon (Belgium), who is ranked 167th in the world, or D. Prišmic (Croatia), who is ranked 380th in the world, in the final.
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