Yoshihito Nishioka has won his first ATP title at the age of 23 after battling past France’s Paul-Hughes Herbert in the final of the Shenzhen Open.
Making his debut in an ATP final at the tournament, the world No.171 proved too powerful for his French opponent during the closing stages of the match. Hitting 19 winners to 25 unforced errors throughout. In comparison Herbert, who was also bidding to win his maiden ATP title, hit 43 winners, but made a costly 61 mistakes.
“I am really happy about this moment after coming back from injury.” Nishioka said during his on-court interview.
Nishioka has been ranked as high as 58th in the world in 2017, but a serious left knee injury which required surgery halted his momentum. Resulting in him missing eight months of the tour. As a result of his absence, the Japanese player dropped outside the world’s top 350 in April, before staging a steady rise back up the rankings. Helped along with his win at a South Korean Challenger event earlier this year.
“I would like to congratulate Yoshihito. I know you came back from injury and this must be really special. So congratulations on winning your first ATP Tournament.” Herbert said in tribute to his opponent.
Becoming the first Japanese player to win the Shenzhen title, Nishioka has won 250 ranking points as well as $130,885 in prize money. Meaning that he is set to return back into the world’s top 100 when the ATP rankings are updated on Monday. Making him his country’s third highest ranked player. The first is former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori.
“There are a few tournaments left for me in this season. Please remember my name. It’s not Nishikori. I’m Nishioka.” He said with a smile.
Looking ahead to the future, Nishioka is hoping his latest triumph will elevate him to the next level on the tour. Setting his sights on winning the biggest titles in the sport to match the achievements by some of his compatriots – Nishikori and Naomi Osaka.
“I think this is the beginning. I want to try to win 500s, 1000s (ATP tournaments). This is a very happy (moment) and I believe I can achieve more. Try to win more tournaments.” He explained.
Nishioka will return to action next week at the Japan Open in Tokyo.
