Sunday, August 31, 2008

2007
A finalist in two USTA Pro Circuit events, Nishikori lost to Donald Young in Little Rock, Arkansas and Alex Bogomolov, Jr. in Carson, California. He partnered with Donald Young to win the doubles title at Little Rock, Arkansas. He paired with triple-French Open champion, Gustavo Kuerten at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida where they lost in the first round. Nishikori served as a hitting partner for Roger Federer at Wimbledon. After his ATP main draw debut in Los Angeles, he qualified for the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in July 2007. He beat Alejandro Falla in the first round 6–4 6–3 to record his first ATP main draw win. He followed that up with a 3-set win over Michael Berrer, the eliminator of 7th seed Robby Ginepri, to advance to his first ever ATP quarterfinal. He lost to Dmitry Tursunov but Nishikori became the youngest player to reach the quarterfinals at Indianapolis since Boris Becker, who went on to reach the semifinals, in 1985. In his third career ATP event, Nishikori defeated Teimuraz Gabashvili in the first round in Washington, DC before falling to Julien Benneteau in the second. Attempted to qualify for the ATP Masters Series Canada and for his first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open. Qualified for the ATP event in Beijing and lost in the first round to Ivan Ljubicic. Nishikori received a wildcard to the ATP event in Tokyo, Japan where he lost in the first round to Zack Fleishman. He participated in the draw ceremony in Tokyo and received the Tokyo Sports Writers Club award. Nishikori represented Japan at the Asian Hopman Cup 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand.

[edit] 2008

Saturday, August 2, 2008