Kei Nishikori defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a titanic battle that went to five sets.
Tsonga started the stronger of the two, imposing himself upon Nishikori to take an early lead and break serve. However, the Japanese 24th seed composed his play and began to fight back. Though, Tsonga proved too strong and he broke serve yet again to take the first set 6-2.
The second set turned out to be quite the opposite, with Nishikori completing a double-break to race into a 4-0 lead. Tsonga seemed to have lost his composure completely, making unforced errors and finding it hard to find any kind of fluency and rhythm.
Tsonga did fight back to make it 4-2, but the competitive edge seemed to be lacking as Nishikori took the set 6-2.
Nishikori continued his form and broke Tsonga's serves again to head into a 5-1 lead in the third set. The opening set looked to be a fluke for Tsonga, who could not handle Nishikori's movement as he took the set 6-1.
The Frenchman went into the fourth set and rediscovered his rhythm to impose an aggressive style upon Nishikori. Tsonga levelled the match at 2-2 and took it into a fifth and final set.
The fifth set went by way of serve until Nishikori broke serve and controlled the court with surprising ease, considering the tiring length of the match. Nishikori looked happy to let the game go by way of serve thereafter, taking the set 6-3.
The 22-year-old goes into his first quarter-final in a major against Andy Murray.
Sam Hughes
