GIMCHEON, May 13, 2018
Yoshihito Nishioka clinched his first title in two years, winning the $50,000 Gimcheon Challenger, held on hard courts in Gimcheon, situated in the North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. The 22-year-old Japanese battled through the qualifying and beat No. 2 seed Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-4, 7-5 in Sunday’s singles final.
Nishioka saved five of his seven break points he faced, converting four of his own to prevail after one hour and 39 minutes.
He’s done it! @yoshihitotennis claims his first title in his comeback from a torn ACL, surging to victory in Gimcheon with a 64 75 win over Vasek Pospisil.
Now a perfect 5-0 in #ATPChallenger finals pic.twitter.com/ecLtIsIdJe
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 13. Mai 2018
The Japanese left-hander achieved a career-high World No. 58 on 20 March 2017 before tearing left ACL four days later in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 Miami against Jack Sock. Nishioka missed the rest of the season but returned to action at the beginning of 2018. The Mie native defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber in five sets to reach the second round of the Australian Open for a second straight year and advanced to the semi-finals of the Burnie Challenger.
Nishioka dropped to World No. 362 but has now earned 80 ATP Ranking points as well as $7,200 in prize money. He celebrated his fifth triumph on the ATP Challenger Tour and is now a perfect 5-0 in ATP Challenger finals.
