Nishikori, Goffin reach 4th round at Australian Open

The seventh seed was bidding to make it to the last 16 of the Australian Open for the fifth consecutive time, and while he didn’t always play his best tennis he was able to notch up a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory on Margaret Court Arena.

The Spaniard couldn’t hold onto the break for long though, with Nishikori breaking back in the tenth game before grabbing the decisive second break to win the set 7-5.

Nishikori will be playing against either Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Pierre Hugues-Herbert in the following round.

Roberta Vinci has lost 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in the third round of the Australian Open to Anna-Lena Friedsam in her first Grand Slam tournament since beating Serena Williams in the U.S. Open semifinals.

“You know, I have been playing good and a lot of confidence coming up, so it’s gonna be a good match”. Both matches went five sets.

“It’s not something I ever aimed for but when it happens, it’s very special”, he said.

“It was a really tough match”, Nishikori said.

She advanced with a 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-0 win over Lauren Davis before she was reminded of the milestone, becoming the 17th woman to reach the mark.

Top-ranked Williams is still in contention in Melbourne, set to play her third-round match later Friday against Daria Kasatkina of Russian Federation.

Hewitt, after going down fighting to David Ferrer at his farewell tournament, rounded on an anonymous online blog linking his name to the explosive report which has overshadowed the year’s first Grand Slam.

Ball boys and girls used towels to wipe off the court while Federer and Dimitrov took shelter under shades usually used to protect players from the sun. Play finally began on some outdoor courts after more than a six-hour delay, and seven doubles matches were postponed.

Goffin will next face either four-time champion Roger Federer or the 27th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.

This story has been corrected to show the score in the last set of the Sharapova-Davis match was 6-0.

Earlier on Rod Laver, 2008 champion Maria Sharapova collected her 600th win at tour level.

The Japanese player had a medical timeout at the end of the first set for a problem with his wrist, but didn’t look impeded as he closed out in the match in just under three hours.

Nishikori received treatment on his right wrist after the opener, and it appeared to be a constant source of annoyance for him, one which would be addressed again in the second set. “I lost the second set easily, so it was tough mentally but I stayed calm and tried to concentrate again and I started to play much better in the last set”, Nishikori said.

Belinda Bencic has become the first player to advance to the fourth round at Melbourne Park with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Kateryna Bondarenko in the opening match Friday on Rod Laver Arena.

He noted how he liked the renovation – the No. 2 stadium has had a roof installed since his last outing there.

Kei Nishikori has successfully booked his slot in the fourth round of the Australian Open after winning over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the previous round.

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were set to play night matches Friday.