Yoshihito Nishioka was playing fantastic tennis last year when he started to beat top players such as Jack Sock and Thomas Berdych to also give hard time to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinal in Acapulco.

Unfortunately, things got very bad when in Miami he had a horrible injury to his knee to undergo an ACL surgery.

The rank of the Japanese went pretty low (380) and it took time for him to both regain the fitness and the confidence.

After losing 3 consecutive matches in Cincinnati, New York, and Kaohsiung, Yoshihito found his way in Shenzhen to win his maiden career title coming straight from the qualifications.

Nishioka impressed after winning a tough 3 setter against Denis Shapovalov (7-6 3-6 7-5) and he impressed against after beating Verdasco in the semifinal 1-6 6-3 7-6 (5). The Japanese completed his effort after beating an in-form Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the final 7-5 2-6 6-4.

The Japanese will be back in the top100 from tomorrow.

Qualifer Yoshihito Nishioka wins Shenzhen title beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5 2-6 6-4 pic.twitter.com/H71GmoL6xg

— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) September 30, 2018