ATP Eastbourne Semifinals – Men’s Friday Preview

Igor Kunitsyn vs. Andreas Seppi

Andreas Seppi reached the semifinals of the Eastbourne passing by Rochus in 3 sets. Was a match dominated by the Italian who served well during the match with 10 aces and 81% points won behind the first delivery.

The second set was a serving affair as no break points were see but was Rochus who was steadier and forced a tie-break, the Belgian didn’t kept the rhythm and was broke in the beginning of the decider.

Kunitsyn advance with a much easier win over Benneteau then expected who also served well but who benefit of a opponent a little bit off. Both are looking for the final, Kunitsyn wasn’t in a final of ATP tournament since 2008 in Moscow while Seppi 2007 in Gstaad.

Overall Kunitsyn benefit by a kind draw while the Italian was impressive on court in some moments, the slow conditions favor him as he can keep the ball in play and the slice doesn’t bother him too much, the Russian has overall the better serve but also the Italian seems to found some rhythm on serve here. Hard match but we stick with the player who looks steadier.

 

Kei Nishikori vs. Janko Tipsarevic

Janko Tipsarevic won a pair of matches on Thursday to reach the semifinals at the Aegon International tennis event. The Serbian started his day by besting Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin in straight sets in the second round and capped it with another straight sets quarter-final victory over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.

Tipsarevic, who is the only seed still standing this week, will meet Japan's Kei Nishikori who finished the match with Schuettler wining in three sets and then beat Stepanek.

Tipsarevic struggled a little bit against Dimitrov, especially in the second set, and with Wimbledon approaching might want to rest, especially if rain will interfere once more.

The Japanese played well against Stepanek even that the Czech didn’t oppose too much, Nishikori read well opponent’s serve and was solid from the back of the court. H2h is 3-0 for Tipsarevic with all meetings this year but all were contested, especially the last one in Belgrade on a least favorite surface for Japanese.

The conditions are slow and even that the Serb looks favorite, Nishikori looks good from the back of the court and creates good angles to trouble the Serb, he was solid on retrieving and resist better in a 3 sets match.  

---