Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Kei Who???

There were three tournaments last week, and one shocking result, the kind that occurs every 5 years or so. At Delray Beach, Fla., Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori, who turned 18 in late December, beat American James Blake 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final to become the first Japanese tour winner in 16 years (Shuzo Matsuoka, 1992), and the youngest winner on tour since 1998 (Lleyton Hewitt). Nishikori, who qualified to get in the tournament as the 244th ranked player in the world, beat another American in the semi’s, Sam Querry, saving multiple match points down 3-6 in a 3rd set tiebreaker.

I’ve never seen Nishikori play – unfortunately didn’t catch any of the Delray Beach action on The Tennis Channel – but I’m sure he must be quite speedy at 5’10” 150lbs. He actually played in 3 ATP tournaments in the states last summer as a 17 year old – Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and Washington D.C. – winning two matches in Indy and one in D.C. He jumped an astounding 113 spots to #131 in the rankings this week. Hopefully he keeps up the solid results and we have a new top 30 star in the making.

The other two tournaments were at Salvador, Brazil and Marseille, France. In Brazil, it was two Spanish clay-court stars battling in the final, one reaching his prime (Nicolas Almagro) and the other enjoying good results in what should be the twilight of his career (Carlos Moya). The 22 year old Alamgro took the final for his 3rd career title, beating Moya 7-6, 3-6, 7-5. It was Moya’s 43rd career finals match, 20 of which have resulted in titles. In Marseille, Andy Murray took down Mario Ancic (finally back from injury) 6-3, 6-4, to win his 5th career title. It was Ancic’s 10th career finals appearance and the 7th time he’s lost in those matches. This week there are three more events being played - Rotterdam, Buenos Aries, and San Jose.