Kei Nishikori was forced to hold off a valiant fightback from Fernando Verdasco to advance into the fourth round of the French Open this afternoon.
The fifth seed looked to be cruising to a straight-sets victory, but in the end took almost three-and-a-half hours to battle past his opponent 6-3 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-4.
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Things got off to an inauspicious start for both players as the opening three games went against serve, but Nishikori came out of that spell on top and soon managed to restore an element of normality to proceedings.
The Japanese player held his next three service games and then broke Verdasco in the last game of the set to take the opener 6-3 at the second time of asking.
There were more topsy-turvy moments in the second set too. After the opening four games went with serve, only one of the next six did as both players struggled to win their own games.
It was Nishikori who got that solitary success on serve, though, and three breaks in a row for the favourite was enough to see him take the second 6-4 and move into complete control of the contest.
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Verdasco refused to lie down, though, and an early break in the third saw him handed a lifeline in the match. Nishikori did manage to pull that back and level things up at 3-3, but the unseeded Spaniard broke his opponent twice in a row after that to force a fourth set.
For the first time in the match, Verdasco was able to hold his own serve throughout a set as he levelled things up in the fourth, breaking Nishikori twice more to take it 6-2 and send the match to a decider.
The world number six responded, though, and just as Verdasco had done in the previous set, he held serve throughout, with one break in the fifth game being enough to clinch a 6-4 win as Nishikori wrapped it up with his fourth match point.
Nishikori will now take on Richard Gasquet in the fourth round.
Barney Corkhill
