Nishikori creates history

French Open

Paris

Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man in 82 years to reach the French Open quarter-finals yesterday with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Russia's Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Fifth seed Nishikori goes on to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 14th seeded Frenchman, for a place in the semi-finals.

Jiro Satoh was the last Japanese man to enjoy such a run in Paris when he went on to the semi-finals in 1931 and 1933.

But Nishikori insisted he does not feel the pressure of being a pathfinder having already become the first Asian man to reach a Grand Slam final at the US Open last year where he finished runner-up.

"It's always great to make new history, especially for Japan and Asian," said Nishikori who was one of five Japanese men to feature in the main draw in Paris this year, the most since 1967.

"Clay is not the best surface for us. Now I'm trying to make the new step. I hope I can keep going like this on clay court.

"But I don't feel any pressure from the media or the fans in Japan. It's exciting for me to get a lot of support. 

"I have a lot of people watching in Japan and a lot of my friends are watching."

Nishikori hadn't played since Wednesday after scheduled third round opponent Benjamin Becker withdrew with an injury.

The 25-year-old looked fresher than Gabashvili out on a damp, chilly Court Suzanne Lenglen dominating the first set and racing to a 5-1 lead in the second before 74th-ranked Russian briefly rallied with a face-saving break in the eighth game.

The third set followed a similar path of domination with Nishikori again stretching to a 5-1 lead.

Gabashvili saved two match points but the Japanese, who had also beaten the Russian in Barcelona in April on his way to a successful defence of his claycourt title, won through.

Nishikori finished with 40 winners, more than three times his opponent's and took his clay record this year to 13-2.

He will take a 4-1 career edge into his quarter-final against Tsonga although all of their five meetings have been on hard courts.

Tsonga, 30, made the semi-finals in Paris in 2013 and will be playing in his third quarter-final at his home Grand Slam.

"He was injured and he came back now and he's coming back very strong," said Nishikori of the Frenchman.

"He has a big serve, a big forehand. He's always a dangerous player. It's going to be a fun match."

Meanwhile, the French Open fourth round tie between Roger Federer and Gael Monfils was suspended due to poor light late Sunday with the contest level at one set all.

It will resume on Monday with the winner set to take on Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.

Ana Ivanovic made the French Open quarter-finals for the first time since her 2008 title run yesterday where she'll face Elina Svitolina, the first Ukrainian to make the last eight.

But defending champion Maria Sharapova's scheduled last-16 clash against Lucie Safarova was pushed back until today after rain caused a lengthy stoppage at a chilly Roland Garros.

The Russian second seed now faces the prospect of playing matches on two successive days with the first two women's quarter-finals already programmed for Tuesday.

Seventh-seeded Serb Ivanovic defeated Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Makarova, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in January, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to book her eighth career Grand Slam quarter-final.

Watched again by German World Cup winning football star Bastian Schweinsteiger, the 27-year-old Ivanovic shrugged off a two and a half hour rain stoppage to secure her third three-set win in four rounds in Paris.

The 20-year-old Svitolina beat fellow former Roland Garros junior champion Alize Cornet on a windy, chilly Court Philippe Chatrier 6-2, 7-6 (11/9).

"It's amazing to be in the quarter-finals again. To be honest, coming into the tournament I didn't really expect that at all," said Ivanovic.