By Chris Oddo | Sunday September 30, 2018
Yoshihito Nishioka rose past Pierre-Hugues Herbert to claim his first ATP title at the Shenzhen Open.
Photo Source: Shenzhen Open
Remember the name—Yoshihito Nishioka.
It will be hard to forget after the 22-year-old electrified the crowds at this week’s Shenzhen Open and became the seventh ATP qualifier to claim a title this season with his 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France.
Nishioka, who owns a 5-0 lifetime record in challenger finals, claims his first ATP title with the win and returns to the Top 100 after bottoming out at 380 in the world this April.
It has been a difficult road for Nishioka, who tore his ACL at Miami in 2017 and began the long road back to form at the start of 2018. But a diminutive player like Nishioka, who stands 5’7” tall and has built his game around his stunning quickness, needed time to get his groove back.
As the Asian swing heats up we are once again seeing what Nishioka is capable of, and beginning to believe that he may be headed back to his previous career-high ranking of No.58 in the world, and perhaps even higher.
On Sunday he was given a stern test from Herbert, who converted all three break points he saw to force a decider and saved three championship points to stay alive in the final set at 4-5.
Herbert would save a fourth championship point with Nishioka serving for the title but the Japanese came through on his fifth when Herbert netted a forehand return to end the match after two hours and 20 minutes.
Herbert was playing in his first ATP final since 2015, and he was in bristling form, having taken out second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas and saved two match points to defeat Alex de Minaur in Saturday’s semifinals.
Herbert will rise to a career-high ranking of 53 in the world based on his efforts, while Nishioka is slated to rise from 171 all the way to 94.