Japan’s Nishioka beats Thompson for title in rain-hit Atlanta

Issued on: 29/07/2024 – 07:13

1 minute

The 28-year-old left-handed Japanese pitcher recovered after the showers to defeat Thompson 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 in the first American hardcourt exhibition event for the US Open.

“This is a great week for me,” Nishioka said. “I was a little bit lucky after the rain.”

World number 86 Nishioka improved his record in ATP matches against world number 41 Thompson, winning all matches on hard court.

Nishioka made his sixth ATP final appearance in his career, adding a trophy to his winning streak, which includes the 2018 Shenzhen Open and the 2022 Korea Open in Seoul.

“This is an amazing feeling,” Nishioka said. “Third title, I couldn’t believe it from the beginning of the year.”

Thompson, 30, was thwarted in his bid to win his second title of the year after winning his first ATP crown in February in Los Cabos, beating Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final.

“It’s not the result we wanted,” Thompson said. “We got to the final. Not a bad week.”

Nishioka will be the eventual winner of the Atlanta title; the event will be discontinued after this year.

Thompson broke Nishioka for a 5-4 lead and then held serve to decide the first set. Nishioka led Thompson 5-4 with the Aussie serving at 30-15 in the 10th game of the second set when rain arrived.

Showers delayed the match for nearly six hours before it resumed. Both players held serve until a tiebreak, which Nishioka dominated to take a 5-0 lead into the third set.

The final set, which started just after midnight, began with Nishioka taking a 1-0 lead when Thompson hit a forehand wide.

Nishioka saved a break point in the second game and three more in the fourth game, two through errors by Thompson and the other through a forehand smash.

Nishioka then broke again to take a 4-1 lead with a cross-court winner and held on twice more to claim victory after two hours and 40 minutes when Thompson hit a backhand service return long.

© 2024 AFP