Kei Nishikori makes memorable debut in ATP World Tour Finals floriate

Kei Nishikori chose a timely moment to secure his first win over Andy Murray and leave the home hope facing an early exit from the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

A run of 20 wins in his last 23 matches had raised hopes that Murray could challenge for the title at the end of season finale, but Japan's Nishikori has left that in severe doubt after a 6-4 6-4 victory in Group B play Sunday.

Nishikori is the first Asian player to make the prestigious eight-strong tournament and could not have hoped for a better start with his first victory in four attempts against the fifth seed.



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Read: Federer ends Djokovic's Shanghai run

Murray must now hope to beat world number two Roger Federer and Canada's Milos Raonic in his final two group matches to progress to the knockout stage in London as he admitted.

'It's harder to qualify when you lose your first match. That's pretty obvious,' Murray said.

'I need to win my next two matches more than likely, and win them well if I want to go through.

'That's going to be tricky because Milos (Raonic) played fantastic last week in Paris, and Roger always plays well at this event.'

The enormity of his task was underlined later Sunday as Federer swept aside Raonic to begin is quest for a seventh title at the end of season showpiece.

Federer swept through the first set 6-1, but was at least taken to a tiebreak in the second set by his outclassed opponent.

That proved a mere formality as the second seed took it without dropping a point to wrap up victory in just under an hour and a half.

Nishikori, beaten by Marin Cilic in the U.S. Open final, overcame early nerves at the 02 Arena as he fell an early break behind to Murray.

Read: Cilic beats Nishikori to claim U.S. Open title

He broke back in the sixth game and made further inroads on a shaky Murray service to take the opener.

Fourth seed Nishikori pulled 4-1 ahead in the second set before Murray showed his fighting spirit by breaking back to level at 4-4.

The comeback proved short lived as Nishikori held his service and then broke Murray to 30 to wrap up victory in one hour 36 minutes.

'Maybe in the beginning I was a little bit tight, but I started feeling better and the second set was almost perfect,' Nishikori said.

'I knew I had to be more aggressive than usual and that's how I won. It's my goal to go to the semifinal and final.'

Read: Nishikori upsets Federer in Miami

Group A, featuring world number one Novak Djokovic gets underway Monday with the Serb playing Cilic and Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka facing Tomas Berdych.

In other tennis action Sunday, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova sealed a third Fed Cup win in four years for the Czech Republic by clinching victory over Germany in Prague.

Kvitova beat Angelique Kerber in a three-set marathon 7-6 (7/5) 4-6 6-4 in a shade under three hours to give the Czechs an unbeatable 3-0 lead.

World number four Kvitova and Lucie Safarova had set the scene Saturday with singles wins over Andrea Petkovic and Kerber respectively.

Germany's Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki beat Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4 6-3 in the 'dead' doubles rubber to leave the final score at 3-1 in the home side's favor.

Read: Kvitova thumps Bouchard in Wimbledon final

Nishikori is the first Asian player to make the prestigious eight-strong tournament and could not have hoped for a better start with his first victory in four attempts against the fifth seed. 'I need to win my next two matches more than likely, and win them well if I want to go through. 'That's going to be tricky because Milos (Raonic) played fantastic last week in Paris, and Roger always plays well at this event.' A run of 20 wins in his last 23 matches had raised hopes that Murray could challenge for the title at the end of season finale, but Japan's Nishikori has left that in severe doubt after a 6-4 6-4 victory in Group B play Sunday. Nishikori, beaten by Marin Cilic in the U.S. Open final, overcame early nerves at the 02 Arena as he fell an early break behind to Murray. Germany's Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki beat Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4 6-3 in the 'dead' doubles rubber to leave the final score at 3-1 in the home side's favor. Fourth seed Nishikori pulled 4-1 ahead in the second set before Murray showed his fighting spirit by breaking back to level at 4-4. 'That's going to be tricky because Milos (Raonic) played fantastic last week in Paris, and Roger always plays well at this event.' The comeback proved short lived as Nishikori held his service and then broke Murray to 30 to wrap up victory in one hour 36 minutes. The enormity of his task was underlined later Sunday as Federer swept aside Raonic to begin is quest for a seventh title at the end of season showpiece.

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