Rune was unforgiving and Nishikori kept his Tokyo dream alive

Holger Rune, seeded sixth, qualified for the quarterfinals of the Japan Openof the ATP 500 category and played on hard courts in Tokyo; while American Tommy Paul, fifth seed, was eliminated.

The Danish tennis player defeated local Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-4 in the final match of the day.. In the first set, the Nordic player was relentless on his serve, scoring nine aces and winning 100% of the points on his first serve despite squandering up to two set points in the seventh game to allow him to close everything earlier. Already in the second a ‘counterbreak’ in the ninth game, added to the previous break in the third, tipped the balance in their favour.

His opponent in the next round is the Japanese Kei Nishikori, who continues to take advantage of the invitation received. to play the event, and eliminate the Australian Jordan Thompson in the round of 16 by 6-2 and 6-3 thanks to his effectiveness in taking advantage of 5 of the 7 breaking balls available to him.

The big surprise of the day came when Tommy Paul eliminated Czech Tomas Machac by 2-6, 6-3 and 7-6. The American began to dominate, although he had to save up to five break points against her in the first set. In the second it was his opponent who dealt with that difficulty by avoiding nine out of ten chances to lose his serve and taking advantage of the two he had. In the third and final game, the New Jersey player’s loss of serve on the fifth point of the tie break tipped the balance.

Macac will now play against fellow American Alex Michelsen who, in a duel between tennis players from before, defeated the Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-1 and 6-4 after saving three breaking balls that the opponent had and was more solid than him to serve.