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Benoit Paire pulled off the shock of the day by beating 4th seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the first round of the US Open. The Frenchman prevailed over last year’s runner-up at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in 3 hours and 14 minutes.
The 26-year-old served 21 aces en route to beating the Japanese, who had two match points in the fourth set. After losing the first set, Nishikori came back strongly to take a 2-1 set lead in the match and had a chance to seal it up in the fourth set, but Paire rose to the occasion and hung on, before taking the final set to move to the second round at Flushing Meadows.
Notching up a mammoth 16 winners in the first set, Paire started the better of the two as he sealed the set 6-4, despite making 12 unforced errors. Nishikori concentrated more on his serve in the second set, and after breaking Paire in the second attempt, held serve to wrap up the second set 6-3 in just 31 minutes.
Despite serving 7 aces in the third set, Paire’s inconsistent serve game gave the 25-year-old another chance to serve for the set at 5-4, which Nishikori made the most of. The fourth set was an even affair as both players held serve as the set went to the tiebreaker. Paire held his nerve to save two match points and push the match to the deciding set.
Tied 2-2 in the fifth set, Benoit Paire took the first break point that came his way and held serve for the rest of the match to pull off a surprising win over the 4th seed.
Ivanovic crashes out
Earlier in the day, 7th seed Ana Ivanovic crashed out of the US Open after a 3-6, 6-3, 2-6 loss to Slovakian tennis sensation, Dominika Cibulkova.
The Serbian made 14 unforced errors in the first set as she slumped to a 6-3 loss, but recovered strongly to win by the same margin in the second. She cut down on the errors and conjured up 7 winners to take the match to the deciding set.
However, Cibulkova was completely dominant in the third set and broke Ivanovic twice to complete the win in a little less than 2 hours. Cibulkova inflicted further misery on a poor year for Ana Ivanovic, who has now lost in the first or second rounds in four of the last 5 Grand Slams.
