By Chris Soderstrom
Teen sensation Kei Nishikori gave his home crowd much to cheer about at the AIG Championships yesterday, ousting Spanish 16 th seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-4.
Nishikori was joined by 593 rd ranked Takao Suzuki in the third round after he completed an upset of his own ib defeating Italy’s Simone Bolleli. For the first time since 1980 two Japanese players have reached the last 16 at the Japan Open.
Meanwhile, Venus Williams raced into the second round at the Stuttgart Open yesterday with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 drubbing of Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
The in-form No. 8 required little over an hour to see off Groenefeld and will play Kateryna Bondarenko after the Ukrainian’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Italy’s Flavia Pennetta earlier in the day.
“I’ll come out and just concentrate on playing my game and look to keep the momentum going,” said the 28-year-old.