Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori stunned American top seed James Blake 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday to win the ATP title in Florida.
The 18-year-old, ranked 244th in the world, claimed his first career crown and became the first Japanese man to win a tour event since Shuzo Matsuoka in Seoul in April 1992.
Nishikori, who had to qualify to get into the main draw of the US$411,000 hardcourt tournament, was playing in his first ATP final.
PHOTO: AP
He has been based in Florida since he began training at the Bollitierri Academy at the age of 14.
"Last night I tried to imagine winning the final, but I couldn't do it," Nishikori admitted. "I was so nervous in the first set. During the second set I started to feel more confident."
"This is the best tournament in my life," he said. "I am so happy right now. I played eight matches in nine days but I didn't feel tired."
Nishikori won't get much chance to rest. He received a special exemption into the main draw of the tournament which started yesterday in San Jose, California.
"I am now happy to be going to play the main draw of San Jose," he said. "I love California. They have great Asian food."
Blake, 29 and ranked 12th in the world, got off to a quick start against his inexperienced opponent and appeared to be on his way to an 11th career title after taking the first set.
But Nishikori kept his cool. He used impressive speed around the court and hit winners from both sides to take a 4-0 lead in the second as he leveled the match at one set apiece.
He saved three break points in the second game of the third set, then broke Australian Open quarter-finalist Blake in the next game and held to love for a 3-1 lead. At 5-4 he served out the match with another love game.
Nishikori, who was playing in his first ATP tournament of the year, had saved four match points en route to victory over American third-seed Sam Querrey in the semi-finals.
"He played really well and didn't show any kind of nerves," said Blake, who hadn't lost to a player ranked as low as Nishikori since falling to No. 262 Teimuraz Gabashvili in Florida in 2005.
"I didn't feel like I returned as well as I had in past matches. One break in a three-set match says a lot on my part. I felt he'd be carefree and play like he had nothing to lose. After you save four match points in the semis you are playing with house money. He hit cold winners at times you wouldn't expect them," Blake said.
Prior to Delray Beach, Nishikori had played in just five ATP events, posting a 3-5 record last year.
This season he had been battling to find his form on the Challenger development circuit.
He reached the semi-finals of the Miami Challenger last month and four weeks ago lost in the qualifying rounds of the Dallas Challenger.
With his triumph, Nishikori is projected to rise to around No. 122 in the ATP rankings.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a
RSS