Remarkable day for the Japanese tennis as the home favorite won an incredible title beating Raonic in 3 sets.
The Match
Key had an immense match to win the first set at the tiebreak and to fight back in the decider when he bagelled Raonic (not an easy stuff with the Canadian’s service!). Eventually the high speed and the huge frive of the Japanese gave him his 2nd career title ( first Japanese player to win the tournament in its 41-year history).
From Nishikori
“I have not been able to play well in Japan until now, so I always thought perhaps I was not mentally strong enough to do so,” Nishikori said. “But the match against Berdych, something changed. I was able to play much better yesterday and today as well. On one side of my mind, I cannot believe I won the tournament, but at the same time, I feel that I’m happy I was able to do this.”
From Raonic
“He just played too well. There’s not too much I could do,” said Raonic. “He played better than me and deserved to win. In the third set, he started playing well, was reading me a bit more, and a few mistakes starting coming from me.”
