David @ Tokyo

The If Stockholm Open has been running this week (unfortunately without Roger Federer), and Japanese rising star Kei Nishikori now finds himself having made it through to the top 4. Not without a bit of good fortune though.

For starters Nishikori, currently 77th in the ATP rankings, was entered into the tournament as a Wild Card.

In the first round he fought through to victory in 3 sets against a Spanish opponent as well as a cold, a sore knee, and presumably a bit of jet lag as he had been playing in the AIG Tokyo Open a week earlier.

Then somehow the tournament schedule saw him gain a two day break before his second round match against former world number 12 Hrbaty, which he again won in 3 sets. His knee was now apparently no longer troubling him.

Then on Friday, due to come up against 2nd seed, Mario Ancic (ranked 31st) he found himself with another day off as Ancic apparently forfeited the match due to a bout of Bronchitis.

As such, Nishikori is now set to snatch at least another 100 ATP points by making the final 4, which will shoot him another 10 or so places higher in the rankings.

In his semi-final he'll be facing 4th seed and 35th ranked Robin Soderling from Sweden. It should make for a good match, as Soderling will have a home crowd cheering him on, while Nishikori is seemingly growing in confidence with each victory. Incidentally, if he happens to reach the final (win or lose) his rank will likely settle around number 50 in the world - something that the 18 year old stated as a revised goal earlier in the year after he broke into the top 100.

This Japanese fan site has a collection of links to Internet videos of Nishikori in action.

Labels: Kei Nishikori, Tennis