Medvedev powers past Nishikori

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev played the role of party pooper in Tokyo yesterday as he beat home favourite Kei Nishikori in the final of the Rakuten Open. Medvedev won 6-2, 6-4 for his third victory of 2018.

The 22-year-old’s serve proved too strong for Nishikori and he won 38 of his 43 service points in the match.

“He’s serving great,” Nishikori said. “I didn’t have any chance on his first serve, even second serve. His ball was skipping a lot with this surface and he was hitting good enough flat shots and he was serving great, so it was tough to play against Daniil today.”

Elsewhere, Nikoloz Basilashvili upset top seed Juan Martin Del Potro to claim the title at the China Open in Beijing. Basilashvili was never broken in recording a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Argentine.

The women’s title went to Caroline Wozniacki, who collected her 30th career WTA singles crown with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Anastasija Sevastova in Beijing to win the tournament for the second time. At 4-1 up in the second set Wozniacki was cruising, but Sevastova belatedly did her best to halt the charge before succumbing.