[misty1]

The grass court season gets under way next week and first up for Kei is Queens.

After a tough first round loss to Richard Gasquet in Queens Kei is moving on this week to Eastbourne

here's a look at Kei's qualifying draw, with thanks to Bunny for the info:


(3) KUNITSYN, Igor RUS v SLABINSKY, Alexander GBR
(WC) BURTON, Lewis GBR v GOODALL, Joshua GBR
CAVADAY, Nick GBR v MORGAN, George GBR
LEWIS, Haydn BAR v (5) NISHIKORI, Kei JPN

Dont really know to much about either of the first 2 matches for Kei but Kei really should qualify here

[*bunny*]

Thanx for the thread, misty!

Here's the draw:

[1] NADAL, Rafael ESP vs BYE
DANIEL, Marcos BRA vs KAVCIC, Blaz SLO
QUALIFIER vs BROWN, Dustin JAM
(WC) BAKER, Jamie GBR vs [16] ISTOMIN, Denis UZB

[9] BENNETEAU, Julien FRA vs CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA
DENT, Taylor USA vs ANDERSON, Kevin RSA
QUALIFIER vs (WC) DIMITROV, Grigor BUL
BYE vs [8] LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP

[3] MURRAY, Andy GBR vs BYE
NAVARRO, Ivan ESP vs KOELLERER, Daniel AUT
FISH, Mardy USA vs DEVVARMAN, Somdev IND
KOROLEV, Evgeny KAZ vs [13] GIRALDO, Santiago COL

[12] LLODRA, Michael FRA vs GOLUBEV, Andrey KAZ
LEVINE, Jesse USA vs (WC) HARRISON, Ryan USA
QUALIFIER vs LU, Yen-Hsun TPE
BYE vs [5] CILIC, Marin CRO

[6] MONFILS, Gael FRA vs BYE
SCHUETTLER, Rainer GER vs GIMENO-TRAVER, Daniel ESP
BECK, Karol SVK vs RAM, Rajeev USA
NISHIKORI, Kei JPN vs [11] GASQUET, Richard FRA

[14] SELA, Dudi ISR vs GUCCIONE, Chris AUS
PRZYSIEZNY, Michal POL vs MULLER, Gilles LUX
KUNITSYN, Igor RUS vs MARCHENKO, Illya UKR
BYE vs [4] RODDICK, Andy USA

[7] QUERREY, Sam USA vs BYE
(WC) WARD, James GBR vs GINEPRI, Robby USA
GICQUEL, Marc FRA vs RUSSELL, Michael USA
GRANOLLERS, Marcel ESP vs [10] TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB

[15] SEPPI, Andreas ITA vs (WC) TOMIC, Bernard AUS
MALISSE, Xavier BEL vs QUALIFIER
LORENZI, Paolo ITA vs RIBA, Pere ESP
BYE vs [2] DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB

[*bunny*]

Tough first round. Kei lost to Gasquet 1-6 2-6 at Japan Open in 2008. I saw the match live and Kei was completely outplayed. He said after the match that he had too much respect for Gasquet and couldn't play his game.
This time I think he will approach the match in a different mindset. Of course it doesn't mean he has lost respect for Richard, but he will go out on court to win the match!

During RG, Kei was asked on Japanese TV which surface he liked most, and his answer was grass. He used to say it's clay or hard court, and he admitted his answer changes almost every day. But it's great he has positive attitude towards all surfaces and is looking forward to playing on grass.

[minh]

I remembered that Kei played a great match against Nadal in Queen 2008, after that match, Nadal paid a compliment to kei because Kei played so well and caught many difficulties for him
Hope Kei is able to show his form on grass,

[Papakori]

Tough draw, but I have faith. Good luck Kei!

[*bunny*]

Hey Papakori!!! Welcome back! I really missed you!

[chewy]

Hey Thomas! long time no post hope all's well.

I like how Kei's attitude towards the surface changes as they come...that just show how much he enjoy this sport.
Tough draw but I really want to see where he stands against these players so I can't wait for his first match on grass.

[*bunny*]

Kei will play tomorrow! Ganbare!!

CENTRE COURT
Matches Start At: 12:30 pm
Jamie BAKER (GBR) vs Denis ISTOMIN (UZB)
James WARD (GBR) vs Robby GINEPRI (USA)
Kei NISHIKORI (JPN) vs Richard GASQUET (FRA)
Alex BOGDANOVIC (GBR) vs Grigor DIMITROV (BUL)
Andy MURRAY (GBR)/Jamie MURRAY (GBR) vs Scott LIPSKY (USA)/Sam QUERREY (USA)

[Ivanatis]

on center court he's the underdog though I guess

[Nidhogg]

I can't pick anyone to root for here, so I just hope it's a good match. It has every ingredient to become one.

[Rafkei]

What its Gasquet? Indeed another tough draw for Kei.

Was able to watch Gasquet vs Murray at FG and i was really impressed on how good his ground strokes was. He might just overpower Kei yet again. But anything can happen though.

Good luck Kei!

[misty1]

Kei to serve

[misty1]

terrible start as he falls into and 0-30 hole and then double faults to fall into an 0-40 hole

and gives the break

[chewy]

a few lose errors from Kei, not the best start...C'mon Kei

[misty1]

now kei has 0-30 on richard's serve

0-40

3 chances to break right back

15-40

30-40 with ace# 1 for richard

deuce

richard holds

2-0