Singles - Final
[8] K Nishikori (JPN) d [6] M Raonic (CAN) 76(5) 36 60
Doubles - Final
[4] A Peya (AUT) / B Soares (BRA) d [1] L Paes (IND) / R Stepanek (CZE) 63 76(5)
Nishikori: “I have not been able to play well in Japan until now, so I always thought perhaps I was not mentally strong enough to do so. But [after] the match against [Tomas] 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.
“He (Milos) attacks on his returns and goes up to the net quickly. And he is willing to take risks. I watched him play [Andy] Murray. Despite the break in the first game, there were some dangerous moments in the first set. I tried to stay aggressive. I was able to continue doing so and was able to get the final set 6-0.”
Raonic: “He just played too well. There’s not too much I could do. He played better than me and deserved to win. [In the third set], he started playing well, was reading me a bit more, and a few mistakes starting coming from me.”
ATP Executive Chairman and President Brad Drewett: “I would like to offer my congratulations to Kei Nishikori on becoming the first Japanese man to win the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships title in Tokyo. 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. Kei has a very bright future on the ATP World Tour and we couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Peya: “I think we were returning really well throughout the whole match. We started off great. They came back strong, but we kept on playing our game. We managed to break them three times in the first set and came back from a break down in the second set. We played a few pretty good points at the end to win it. I think overall we deserved it.”
Soares: “I got in touch with Alex and his coach. We talked for a few weeks, and then decided to give the partnership a shot. After Winston-Salem, we had eight days where we put in a lot of work before the US Open. We had a good tournament there. We didn’t play our best tennis, but we felt we were improving as a team. I think last week and this week, we felt we getting better and better. “
On winning his first ATP World Tour 500 tournament: “The 500s are really tough. We had a great win yesterday against Berdych and [Nenad] Zimonjic, an amazing team. And today, to beat a team that’s played in two Grand Slam finals this year, it’s good to know we’re on the right track. Once you start beating these teams, you know you have a shot at the bigger tournaments. We’re very happy for that but also looking forward to next week.”