Nishikori, Ancic advance in Stockholm

Nishikori, Ancic advance in Stockholm : Wild card Kei Nishikori advanced to the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open with a 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 victory over Dominik Hrbaty on Thursday. Nishikori will next face second-seeded Mario Ancic, who beat Steve Darcis 7-6 (4), 6-4. Nishikori, who has jumped 212 spots to 77th in the rankings since the beginning of the year, was bothered by a sore knee in his opening match against eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers on Monday. "It was better than the first match, he said. "I feel it is 80 percent healed. I didn't feel much pain during the match." The 18-year-old Nishikori had three break points to 5-4 in the third set when Hrbaty fell behind 0-40, but the Slovakian saved them all. In the next game, Hrbaty was only two points from the match at 30 all, but the Japanese teenager eventually held his... [read full story]