Nishikori eyes Murray scalp
Kei Nishikori shocked former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets to become the first Japanese man into the Australian Open quarterfinals in 80 years on Monday.
The 24th seed dug deep to knock out the 2008 finalist and sixth seed Tsonga, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in 3hr 30min in sweltering conditions on Hisense Arena.
It was Nishikori's second win over Tsonga after beating him in Shanghai last year and sets him up with a quarterfinal against British fourth seed Andy Murray on Wednesday.
It is the first time a Japanese man has reached the last eight at the Australian Open since 1932, when there were two in the quarterfinals.
"This is the first quarterfinal for me. My (previous) best result is the 2008 US Open round of 16 and I played well at the end of last year and now it's like this. So, yeah, I feel I'm stepping up," Nishikori said.
"I'm happy to get to the top in Asia and hopefully I can be like Li Na for the men."
China's Li became Asia's first singles grand slam winner when she won last year's French Open.
Now Nishikori faces a tough test against Murray, who only dropped three games when they played each other at the Shanghai Masters in October.
"We played at the end of last year. He kind of destroyed me. But I have no pressure now," Nishikori said.
"I learned a lot of things from him. It's going to be tough, but I will try to play my best tennis," he added.
It was Nishikori's second five-setter at the tournament after he fought back from two sets down to get past Australian Matthew Ebden in the second round.
"I'm tired. I've played two five sets in the tournament and it was hot too," he said.
"The score looks easy. But it was a tough match today. I'm very confident."
Nishikori also became only the second Japanese man to reach a grand slam quarterfinal in the open era since Shuzo Matsuoka at Wimbledon in 1995.
"Hopefully it's big news in Japan. A lot of people have messaged me since my last win, so now it's a quarterfinal and I'm really excited," he said.
Nishikori broke Tsonga's serve six times and cashed in on Tsonga's 70 unforced errors, 40 of them on his big forehand.
His only ace in the match brought up three match points in the final game and he clinched victory with a running volley at the net.
Nishikori, seeded here for the first time at a grand slam, is the highest ranked Japanese man in ATP rankings history.
Tsonga said Nishikori proved a difficult opponent in the heat.
"When you have a guy in front of you who returns everything, even when you serve at 215 (kilometres per hour, 134 miles an hour), it puts lot of pressure on you," he said.
"It's tough to play against him because he runs a lot and everything's coming back."