Daniil Medvedev continued with his giant-killing ways to clinch the Japan Open title by beating Kei Nishikori in the final of the tournament. He won 6-2, 6-4 to win the tournament.
Preview:
Japan’s Kei Nishikori will face Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Rakuten Japan Open on Sunday, October 7 as he looks to win his first title in eight final appearances.
Watch the Kei Nishikori v Daniil Medvedev Live Streaming Here. Latest Japan Open Tips Here.
Nishikori has had an up and down few months in recent times, thanks mainly due to fitness issues but it’s been seven finals that he’s won a title. And playing at home, he will know the last time he won an ATP title was way back in February 2016, when he defeated Taylor Fritz in the Memphis Open.
What makes things interesting is he will go up against Medvedev in this title-decider, a player who qualified for the competition through the qualifiers, and went on to beat Diego Schwartzman and Milos Raonic, apart from Denis Shapovalov on his way to this match.
To be fair to Nishikori, almost all of his defeats in the finals have come up against tough opposition. That fourth title in Memphis was followed by a defeat at the hands of Novak Djokovic in Miami and Canadian Open, Rafael Nadal in Barcelona, Marin Cilic at the Swiss Indoors, Grigor Dimitrov in Brisbane and Nadal in Monte-Carlo.
Injury problems have played a part since the Rogers Cup last year with Nishikori using participation in Challengers to be able to make a comeback to the tennis circuit.
More recently, Nishikori had warned his opponents he is back to playing at full tilt and that looks to have been the case in this competition too.
“I think I’m right there. Getting to the semi-final of the US Open, I have to be 100%. So I think I’m back at a great level again. I just have to keep 100 per cent every tournament, every match, and just keep being positive, keep my confidence there, and just enjoy playing the matches.”
Medvedev has had an exciting time on the circuit already. After a title win at the Chennai Open in 2017, he is now on the verge of making it to the Top 30 for the first time in his career. And that might have been down to his title victories in Sydney and at Winston-Salem in 2018.
What makes it doubly interesting is that much like in this competition, Medvedev was coming off the qualifying path in those two tournaments too. Can history repeat itself here?
You can watch the the Nishikori v Medvedev live streaming from 3.30 pm local time (7.30am BST).
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