TENNIS ATP TOKYO – Kei Nishikori battled past Milos Raonic in three tough sets with 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes in the Tokyo Rakuten Japan Open under a closed roof at the Ariake Coliseum to boost his chances to become the first Asian player to qualify for the ATP World Finals in London. Nishikori clinched his second win in the Japanese capital two years after his first triumph in the home tournament over Raonic. It was the seventh career title and the fourth win this year for Nishikori after Memphis, Barcelona and Kuala Lumpur. Diego Sampaolo
Nishikori and Raonic met for the second time in their careers two years after their first final at the Rakuten Japan Open. It was their fourth career head-to-head match. They have always played hard-fought matches. Three of them were decided by the third set.
Nishikori won his second back-to-back tournament one week after winning in Kuala Lumpur. He is currently ranked number 5 in the ATP %ace to London 530 points behind Stan Wawrinka Raonic, who is currently ranked eighth in the ATP Race to London, lost his third consecutive title in Tokyo after losing to Nishikori in 2012 and to Juan Martin Del Potro in 2013.
Nishikori came close to creating a break point chance in the ninth game of the first set at 4-4 30-0 but Raonic got out of trouble. The first set came down to the tie-break where Nishikori took a 3-1 lead. Raonic clawed his way back to draw level to 4-4. On Raonic’s serve at 5-6 Nishikori hit a crosscourt forehand winner on his first set point to wrap up the tie-break with 7-5 after 46 minutes.
Raonic came close to breaking serve at 2-2 30-40. At 3-3 Nishikori hit a backhand into the net to drop serve for the first time in the match after a hard-fought game. The Canadian won the 44-minute second set 6-4 dropping five points on his service points. He hit 22 aces during the match.
In the third set Raonic got out of trouble in the second game at 15-40 before reeling off four points in a row from 0-30 at 3-4. From 4-4 Nishikori won eight points to one for Raonic. The home hero earned three set points on Raonic’s serve as he was leading 5-4 and got the decisive break in the 10th game wrapping up the match on his second match point to the delight of the enthusiastic home fans who packed the Ariake Coliseum.
Nishikori was in tears when he celebrated his second triumph in Tokyo when he hugged his coaches Dante Bottini and Michael Chang. Nishikori is enjoying his best year in which he collected four titles and reached the US Open Final.
“We are still very young. We can both reach the top-5”, said Nishikori during the award ceremony
“It was a great match. We both played a high level of tennis. At the beginning the match was passing by really quick, but in the second and the third sets it was really good. He has been playing with a lot of confidence. He went for his shots and it paid off. I am playing at a high level. Kei has consistently played at a high level over the past few weeks. The match was high quality and I look forward to the next challenge in Shanghai”, said Raonic.
