Nishikori enjoys his biggest win in three years: “Hopefully I can stay playing like today”

Kei Nishikori made history today by becoming the third lowest ranked player to make the round 16 of a Masters 1000, only behind Tommy Haas and Darren Cahill. However, on a more personal level, the Japanese’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas represented Nishikori’s first victory over a top 20 opponent since beating Andrey Rublev at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Nishikori made clear that the win has provided him with much needed confidence:

“Yeah, I think I’m still on the way to coming back 100 percent. I still not expecting playing great tennis every match. You know, I think there is going to be many up and downs still,” he said.

“Today I did really well, but hopefully I can stay playing like today. It’s been a long time. I don’t feel like it’s been three years playing Masters again, but hope I can come back to this stage again next year.”

I did really well, but hopefully I can stay playing like today. It’s been a long time.

Nishikori on his form

Nishikori also detailed his future plans:

“Well, because I cannot play US Open, I have to choose to play Challenger. I go Italy. Well, I go to Cary next week and to Challengers in Italy and hope I can play the Asian Tour because I’m from there, so I hope I can play good there.

“Yeah, like I said, I usually like to play Challenger too when I come back. Maybe I made some mistake that when I came back this time, I played many top players last couple months that didn’t give me a good rhythm. And, of course, they are tough opponents, so it was not easier.

“I think next few weeks hope I can get more points, more matches. Yeah, that’s my plan next couple months.”

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