PARIS — Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man in more than 80 years to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open tennis tournament, breezing past Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 as rain played havoc with other matches at Roland Garros on Sunday.
In a nearly flawless performance that lasted less than two hours, Nishikori broke his opponent five times and hit 40 winners to follow in the footsteps of Jiro Satoh, who made it to the semifinals in Paris twice, in 1931 and 1933.
“To (reach) the quarterfinals, that’s the first goal for these two weeks,” said Nishikori, who disappointed with a first-round exit at the French last year but rebounded by making the U.S. Open final. “I knew I could do this because I was doing well during the clay-court season. I hope it’s just the start of my journey, and I hope I can keep going.”
After enjoying three days of rest, Nishikori was full of stamina and lost just six points on his serve in the opening set. The U.S. Open runner-up continued his demolition work as he raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set. A brief change of momentum saw the 74th-ranked Gabashvili come back to 5-4 after Nishikori dropped his serve in the eighth game. That was the only scare for the fifth-seeded Nishikori, who advanced from the third round without hitting a ball when his opponent pulled out of the tournament.
In the third set, Gabashvili saved two match points in the seventh game before Nishikori sealed the victory on his next service game to the delight of the fans waving Japanese flags.
Next up for Nishikori is No. 14 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who upset fourth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
Eighth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka also advanced with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon in less than two hours. Awaiting Wawrinka in the next round will be either second-seeded Roger Federer or local favorite Gael Monfils.
After a rain-delay of more than 2½ hours in the morning, Sunday’s showcase match between Federer and Monfils was suspended as light started to fade. Spurred on by his raucous fans on center court, Monfils leveled the match at 3-6, 6-4 with a backhand winner before play was called for the day.
On the women’s side of the draw, former champion Ana Ivanovic returned to the quarterfinals for the first time since her triumph at Roland Garros seven years ago after beating ninth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
“To be honest, coming in to the tournament I didn’t expect it at all,” Ivanovic said. “But I really worked hard for each match. I worked hard even before the tournament to reach the quarterfinal again here.”
Ivanovic faces 19th-seeded Elina Svitolina, who overcame strong resistance from local hope Alize Cornet to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 6-2, 7-6 (9) win.
For the first time this year play was disrupted by rain. The two remaining women’s fourth-round matches on Sunday’s schedule were postponed because of the rain delay, meaning defending champion Maria Sharapova will wait until Monday before playing 13th-seeded Lucie Safavrova. Tournament organizers also postponed the match between No. 21 Garbine Muguruza vs. No. 28 Flavia Pennetta.
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