■Thompson easily defeated third seed Casper Ruud (Norway) in the first round. His offensive power was intact. He broke down Ruud's solid defense with his aggressive attacks. However, in the second round, Nishikori did not allow his opponent to play his game. Nishikori said he was conscious of attacking first. “He is not a player who hits hard like Marin Cilic who I played in the first round. If I get into a rally, he has the advantage, so I played keeping in mind that I had to attack." This strategy paid off.

■Before the intense baseline exchange that Thompson excels at, he took the lead with pre-emptive shots. He used early, aggressive shots, both forehand and backhand. He also used angled cross shots, down-the-line shots, and side-spinning shots to push his opponent out. Sometimes he was persistent, sometimes he was bold, and he always dominated the rallies.

■In an interview on the court, Nishikori said, "Wow, I was really strong. I think I'm the one most surprised. I was able to keep my concentration until the very end, and even balls that I didn't think would go in went in, so it was really good," drawing laughter from the crowd. At the press conference, he reflected, "I played almost perfectly." He continued, in a smooth tone, "I realized that this is me after all. I still have potential, and today was the time for it to suddenly appear”.

■Even so, he was cautious in his comments, saying, "If this continues, there will be signs that I can compete against the top 10. It's only one game, so I need to be careful. If it doesn't continue, there's no point, so I want to try to keep it going." Although he did not declare that he was back in form, he must have been very pleased with his excellent play, which "exceeded expectations.”