TENNIS in DEPTH.

Two Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls, Tomas Berdych and Mardy Fish, both fell at the first hurdle. The fourth-seeded Berdych bowed out 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who recently became the highest-ranked Japanese player in history. The 21 year old scored a Top 10 win for a second straight tournament, having also beaten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final in Shanghai. ”I’m really happy the way I played today,” said World No. 32 Nishikori. “It was a slow start for me, but getting rhythm in the second set and playing really well in the third, so I’m really happy.

Earlier in the day, No. 5 seed Fish retired due to a left hamstring injury after one game of his match against fellow American James Blake. Berdych and Fish respectively hold down the No. 6 and No. 8 spots in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Year-To-Date Rankings and will be looking to maintain their places in the Top 8 at the conclusion of the regular season next week in Paris.

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