Yoshihito Nishioka overcame Jordan Thompson and more than five hours worth of rain delays to win the Atlanta Open. The 28-year-old rallied past the fourth seed 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, securing his first tour-level title since 2022 at 12:37 a.m. local time Monday.
"This is an amazing feeling," Nishioka said. "Today's battle, it was huge coming back. I think the rain was very bad for Thompson. I just got some luck from the rain. At the end, [I was] playing amazing. Third title, which I couldn't believe at the beginning of the year, so this is an amazing feeling."
The match was first suspended due to rain with Thompson leading 6-4, 4-5. Three points into the resumption of play after an approximate 45-minute delay, heavy precipitation forced the players off court, this time for more than four-and-a-half hours.
The Japanese player battled through uncharacteristic forehand errors at the start of the match, eventually polishing his groundstrokes to outlast Thompson in baseline rallies.
The lefty broke Thompson’s serve in the opening game of the third set and raced to the finish line, extending his perfect Lexus ATP Head2Head record against the Aussie to 5-0, with all of their meetings having gone to a deciding set.
Nishioka saved 10 of the 11 break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to claim his third tour-level title (2018 Shenzhen, 2022 Seoul). In the final edition of the Atlanta Open, Nishioka became the only champion not from the United States (10) or Australia (3).
Nishioka grabs the title 🏆⚡️🙌@yoshihitotennis claims the win over Thompson 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2@ATLOpenTennis | #AtlantaOpen pic.twitter.com/2IOdTZZdDY
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 29, 2024