Kei Nishikori overcame Learner Tien 4-6 6-4 6-4 in a hard-fought match to reach the second round at the Gonet Geneva Open. Nishikori saved all three break points he faced in the third set.
Nishikori saved four break points to hold serve at love in the first game. Tien converted his third break point in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. and consolidated the break in the fourth game after saving two break points.
Tien broke serve in the first game of the second set. Nishikori broke straight back in the second game to draw level to 1-1. Nishikori sealed the second set 6-4 with a second break in the tenth game. Nishikori saved three break points in the first game of the third set. Both player held on their next service games until the 10th game when Nishikori earned the decisive break on his first match point.
Matteo Arnaldi came back from one set down to beat Hugo Gaston 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-4 in 2 hours and 24 minutes.
Both players went on serve until the eighth game when Arnaldi earned the first two break points,but Gaston saved them. Gaston went up a mini-break twice, but Arnaldi pulled back on serve both times. Gaston earned his third mini-break to win the tie-break 8-6.
Arnaldi did not convert a break point in the first game of the second set. Gaston broke at love in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. Arnaldi won four consecutive games with two breaks to close out the second set 6-4.
Arnaldi broke in the first game of the third set and saved two break points to hold serve for 2-0. Gaston broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Arnaldi broke in the fifth game, but Gaston broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Arnald broke again in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead and served out on his first match point.
It is the first time that Nishikori has beaten a top-70 player on clay since his win over then-world number 25 Karen Khachanov 4-6 6-2 2-6 6-4 6-4 in 2021. Nishikori will face again Khachanov in the second round. Nishikori leads 5-2 in his head-to-head matches against Khachanov. Nishikori is making his first appearance in Geneva since 2017, when he reached the semifinal.
