Japan’s Kei Nishikori gestures after missing a shot during his quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Britain’s Andy Murray at the Roland Garros stadium, in Paris, France. AP
PARIS — Kei Nishikori’s French Open ended with an appropriately erratic performance against top-ranked Andy Murray in the quarterfinals.
The 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (0), 6-1 score and the manner of the defeat fittingly reflected how inconsistently Nishikori had been playing. In his previous four matches at Roland Garros, he twice won a set 6-0 and twice lost a set 6-0.
So it was a bit of a guess which Nishikori would turn up Wednesday at a sunny but somewhat windy Court Philippe Chatrier.
Murray got a taste of the Nishikori’s stylish shot-making in the first set, then saw Nishikori carelessly give points away in the second set, disintegrate completely after forcing a third-set tiebreaker and lose six straight games despite securing an early break in the fourth set.
“For sure I need more consistency. I should, you know, maintain the level like I did in the first set,” the eighth-seeded Japanese player said. “I think my serve got a little bit bad today, missing too many first serves.”
Murray was happy to profit.
“He played, you know, a very bad tiebreak and a bad game where I broke him in the fourth set, and also in the second (set),” said Murray, listing the errors. “Today (he) was maybe more erratic than usual, but I do think a little bit of that was to do with the conditions being difficult.”
It was a far cry from Nishikori’s five-set win against Murray in the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Open, where he had trailed 2-1 in sets before turning the tables on Murray.
When Wednesday’s humiliating tiebreaker ended, a dejected Nishikori took out his aggression on his racket by hurling it down.
His body language spoke increasingly of a player heading for trouble.
After he broke Murray at the start of the fourth set to raise his hopes of a comeback, Nishikori immediately lost his serve. He stood glumly at the far side of the court with his back to Murray, his arms stretched out against the backstop of the court, his head down between them.
The match was still evenly poised — it was only 1-1 — yet it seemed as if Nishikori knew he’d missed his chance.
He was right.
The next five games flew by in a blur of Murray’s winners and Nishikori’s unforced errors: One player commanding from the front foot, the other backing off toward defeat.
When Murray broke him again and held for love, making it 4-1, Nishikori sat slumped forward with a towel draped over his head.
He simply never looked capable of launching a comeback. Instead, he seemed listless, almost resigned to losing to Murray for the ninth time in their 11 career matches.
Nishikori needs a rest before he goes to play on grass.
“Well, I try to take couple days off, because I have some issues with my body right now,” the 27-year-old said. “Recover first and try to be ready for Wimbledon.”