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

Japan's up and coming 18 year old tennis player, Kei Nishikori (based in Florida) has just beaten world number 4, David Ferrer in 5 sets.

Apparently Ferrer smashed his racket into the court after the loss.

At 2ch, Japanese fans showed their pleasure raking up 1000 comments on a news thread in just 20 minutes.

Here's the story from Yahoo!:

Nishikori upsets Ferrer to reach Open’s 4th round

NEW YORK (AP)—Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man to reach the U.S. Open’s fourth round in the 40-year Open era, upsetting fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain in five sets Saturday night.

Nishikori, ranked 126th, could have ended things earlier, but he wasted a two-set lead, then needed three match points to wrap up the 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5 victory.

He broke Ferrer in the final game, hitting a forehand winner down the line on the last point, then dropped his racket and flopped on his back.

“I still can’t believe it. I was playing great and he was playing great, too,” Nishikori said during an on-court TV interview. “Biggest win for me.”

That’s for sure: Nishikori only had one other career victory over a top-20 player. And in Ferrer, he was facing the man who eliminated Rafael Nadal at last year’s U.S. Open en route to the semifinals.

Only one other man from Japan reached the fourth round at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open era: Shuzo Matsuoka was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 1995.

“I’m very proud of that,” Nishikori said.

The 18-year-old Nishikori also is the youngest man to get this far at the U.S. Open since Marat Safin in 1998.

Nishikori is playing in only his second career major tournament and knocked off No. 29 Juan Monaco in the first round.

Nishikori is up against 17th seed Juan Martin Del Potro or Argentina in the fourth round. He's in good form, playing with nothing to lose, so don't be surprised if you see him in the quarterfinals.

Looking forward to see what happens to his world ranking of 126 after his efforts this week. Shuzo Matsuoka is hoping to see him break into the top 45 this year, which would see Nishikori become the highest ranking Japanese men's player ever (breaking Shuzo's record).

Labels: Kei Nishikori, Tennis