Medvedev sinks home hope Nishikori in Tokyo

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev played the role of party pooper in Tokyo on Sunday 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, and the second as a qualifier after his win in Sydney.

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.”

The win will see Medvedev become Russia’s number one when the updated rankings are released on Monday.

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 Argentinian – who could not take advantage of getting a walkover in his semi-final on Saturday due to an injury for Fabio Fognini.

It was a second title of the season for Georgian Basilashvili.