Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany's only player still
standing at the US Open, lost Monday 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to Kei Nishikori,
marking an early exit for German players from the grand slam.
The 29-year-old Nishikori, ranked 19th in the world, commanded the
fourth-round match from the start, but the 34-year-old Kohlschreiber
pushed him in the third set, breaking late to tie the match at 5-5.
The 34th-ranked German however couldn't sustain the momentum as
Nishikori broke back and then served for the match.
It was the fifth time that Kohlschreiber lost a bid to reach the
quarter finals of the US Open. Nishikori, a 2014 finalist in New
York, reached the quarter-final round for the third time. He will
face the winner of a match later Monday between Croatian Marin Cilic,
seeded seventh, and Belgian David Goffin, seeded 10th.
The match was played with the temperature at the US tennis centre at
32 degrees, prompting tournament officials to implement an extreme
heat policy allowing the men a 10-minute break between the third and
fourth sets.
Kohlschreiber, ranked 34th, reached the fourth round with a five-set
win on Saturday over fellow German Alexander Zverev, who was seeded
fourth. Germany's highest seed in the women's draw, Angelique Kerber,
also lost Saturday. They were among 16 Germans in the men's and
women's singles draws to start the tournament.
In the early women's match Monday, Madison Keys of the United States
was untroubled in a defeat of Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-3. The win
was her fifth over the Slovak in as many matches and it puts her back
in the quarter finals. Keys, seeded 14th, was the US Open runner-up
in 2017.
Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Serena Williams were scheduled to
play later matches on Monday at the New York tournament.