Australian Open: Kei Nishikori and Lucas Pouille dig deep to reach quarters

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The Frenchman played better on both the first and second serve, dominating with his first serve and blasting 57 winners and 43 unforced errors. Coric made too many mistakes with his forehand, giving his best to stay in contention but losing the pivotal points and ending his journey in the fourth round after winning 14 points fewer than Pouille.

Borna scored a break in the very first game of the match when Lucas netted a forehand and he stayed in front for three games before suffering a break in game four after a poor volley. They both served well in the following eight games to set up a tie break and Coric claimed it 7-4 with a service winner after 47 minutes.

Lucas bounced back in the second set, losing four points on serve and breaking Borna at love in game seven when the Croat sprayed a forehand error. The Frenchman forced a backhand error from Borna in game 10 to clinch the set, gathering the momentum and maintaining a high level in set number three as well.

Coric saved two break points in game seven and he faced another stern challenge at 5-5, falling on the third break point after a forehand crosscourt winner from Lucas who fired an ace in game 12 to take two sets to one lead and move closer to the finish line.

Another forehand error from Borna cost him a break at the start of the fourth set staying behind until game eight when he broke back with a backhand winner that leveled the score at 4-4. In the tie break, Pouille prevailed 7-2 to seal the deal and move into the quarter-final, thrilled with the way he performed and hoping for more of the same against Milos Raonic.

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Firing 15 aces, Kei hit 81 winners and 67 unforced errors while Pablo stood on a 57-44 ratio, exchanging thrilling baseline rallies and pushing each other to the limits for more than five years in one of the most extended encounters of the tournament so far.

Pablo was a break down twice in the first half of the opening set although he couldnt materialize that, with Kei breaking back in the very next games to stay on the positive side of the scoreboard. The tie break was a wild one as well and Carreno Busta secured it 10-8 on his fourth set point.

The Spaniard broke early in the second set, carrying the lead towards the end nicely, holding at love in game ten to move two sets to love up and produce a massive advantage. From a break down in the third set, Kei managed to overcome the deficit and he won the tie break 7-4 to work on his comeback, prolonging the match and winning the fourth set 6-4 after two breaks, looking good to perform a complete recovery and celebrate the win.

Leading 5-3 in the decider, Nishikori suffered a break while serving for the match in game ten and they had to decide the winner in the match tie break where Pablo opened an 8-5 lead that he failed to bring towards the finish line.

Nishikori rattled off the last five points to seal the deal, mighty relieved he managed to prevail in such a tight match and set the possible clash against Novak Djokovic. <table