Nishikori hails Chang influence

keinishikori

The Japanese produced a sublime performance on Arthur Ashe Stadium, seeing off the top seed and world number one 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to reach his maiden grand slam final.

The second set apart, Djokovic had little answer to Nishikori's unerring groundstrokes as the world no.11 delighted the crowd at Flushing Meadows.

Shortly after his memorable victory, Nishikori paid tribute to coach Chang, who himself reached the US Open final in 1996 before losing in straight sets to Pete Sampras.

"Yeah, it's been really helpful." he said. "He's been helping me a lot from end of last year. Also helping mentally.

"I feel my tennis is changing, becoming a little more aggressive and playing with more confidence.

"He's tough, but you know, sometimes I needed something. Some people can push me well and it's been working really well I think."

With Djokovic strongly fancied to advance to a fifth straight US Open final before play began, Nishikori conceded that he had surprised even himself with his level of performance.

"Maybe a little bit, but not too much," he said. "I was ready to play these kind of players always. Especially this year I have been playing really well.

"I went to final in Masters once and I have been beating those top guys already. But I knew I was a little bit nervous being in the semis for the first time here.

"But I think the confidence helped for today's match. I was playing really well and really aggressive, and didn't wait for the ball. Even when the opponent is Novak, I was playing my tennis. Everything worked well today."

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