UPDATE 5pm: Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori has retired with a left leg injury during his men’s singles semifinal with top seed Andy Murray, handing the Scot his second straight appearance in the Brisbane International final.
Nishikori raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set before dropping the next eight games in a row, and despite playing on following an injury time-out after the first set, he called it quits when trailing 6-4, 2-0.
Nishikori injured his knee during his quarterfinal win over Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on Friday, and after worsening overnight, the world No.19 decided not to risk further injury and is hopeful he can defend his quarterfinal result at the Australian Open.
“I felt it yesterday against Dolgopolov and then this morning it was worse, but I decided to play,” Nishikori said.
“I didn’t want to risk too much and so I decided to retire.”
“I saw the doctor now and he said it’s not a big thing. There’s a bit of tendinitis and the patella is hurting, but just to take a couple of days off for a bit of treatment and hopefully it gets better.”
In his first Brisbane semifinal appearance, Nishikori showed no signs of early jitters, rushing to a 3-0 advantage in just 10 minutes over the defending champion, after Murray uncharacteristically double faulted on break point.
But Murray tightened his famed defensive skills against the shot-making fifth seed, returning ball after ball deep into the court during a spectacular rally to put the set back on serve, before steamrolling through without losing another game.
“I’ve served pretty well for the majority of the tournament and I’ve moved better every single match,” Murray said.
Murray, who kept an eye on the opposing semifinal epic from the gym, will meet first-time finalist Grigor Dimitrov for the title tomorrow, and while he isn’t sure what to expect from the 21-year-old, he’s hoping for his sake the surge of the young-guns isn’t quite so forceful.
“Grigor plays with a lot of variety and he can play a lot of shots. He’s one of the few guys coming through with a single-handed backhand as well, so he uses a lot more slice,” he said.
“From my point of view I hope there isn’t a few coming through because then it means I’ll be one of the ones losing out on my spot.”
Murray, who played his first ATP final against Roger Federer in Bangkok back in 2005, isn’t banking on the Bulgarian’s nerves gifting him a consecutive Brisbane title.
“Everyone deals with certain situations differently. I have no idea whether he’ll be nervous tomorrow or he’ll enjoy the occasion. We’ll find out tomorrow.”
Murray won the pair’s only meeting, 6-4, 6-4, at Bangkok in the 2011 quarterfinals.