Kei Nishikori fairy-tale run at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championship – Tennis Special
Local top ranked star, Kei Nishikori, unleashed his true form at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships and ultimately stole the show. He not only captured the crystalware but also conquered hearts of his nation. With this triumph, Nishikori became
the first Japanese to conquer this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 Series event held in Tokyo.
The Asian number one, Nishikori displayed flawless performance to triumph over his entire rivals at this outdoor hard court event. Spicing his performance further, he stunned second seeded Tomas Berdych en route to the final showdown.
Nishikori entered the Ariake Coliseum standing at number 17 in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings. He bounced back to overpower his compatriot, Go Soeda, in a three-set thriller in his opening round match.
The Japanese number one again made a drastic entry at this event and lost the opening set against the former world number five, Tommy Robredo. However, he unleashed barrage of groundstrokes and stole the limelight with a breadstick and a bagel.
In the quarter-finals, Nishikori recorded his biggest career win. He stunned the Czech number one in straight sets in 118 minutes. The eighth seed was broken twice but capitalised on four out of 13 break chances to prevail.
The 22-year-old carried his spark in the final four where the Cypriot number one, Marcos Baghdatis, awaited. He was never threatened with any breakpoint and cashed in four out of six break chances to formulate a 6-2, 6-2 victory. As a result, he set up a
date with Milos Raonic who stunned top seeded Andy Murray in three sets to reach this spot.
In the title-round, Nishikori proved his class and drew the first blood in the opening set against the eighth seed, Raonic. Despite squandering his edge afterwards, he dominated in the tie-breaker and clicked the opener with a 7-6(5) success.
The Japanese youngster lost the following set after gifting away his serve in the eighth game but went berserk in the deciding set which counted the most. He unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and winded up all six games, eventually pulling out the decider
with a bagel.
After earning the fame in two hours and eight minutes against the Canadian number one, he earned 500 ATP ranking points and climbed to the world number 15.
“...But the match against Berdych, something changed. I was able to play much better yesterday and today as well. On one side of my mind, I cannot believe I won the tournament, but at the same time, I feel that I’m happy I was able to do this.”
The ATP Executive Chairman and President, Brad Drewett, praised Nishikori and commented:
"Kei is a terrific player who is already a star at home in Japan and among the Top 20 players in the world. I’m sure this historic win over a very difficult field in Tokyo will give him great confidence and we look forward to seeing all that he can do."
With this victory, Nishikori pocketed $308,130 in prize money and gained confidence boost.
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