After two rain delays that totaled nearly five hours, Yoshihito Nishioka defeated Jordan Thompson 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 in a thriller that had fatigue, uncertainty and drama among players and fans at the 2024 Atlanta Open.
The victory gives Nishioka his first title of the year and third of his career. He also made history as the first non-American or non-Australian to win the event in its 15-year history. Nishioka had won the previous four meetings with Thompson.
“It is an amazing feeling and has been an amazing whole week,” Nishioka said. “It was a very tough game for me, but I kept focusing on the game despite the rain delays, so I say good job to myself.”
The championship match started strong with both players.
Thompson delivered back-to-back aces at 123 and 132 mph to even the first set at 1-1. Nishioka continued his stellar ball placement, being able to return shots right on the line. Thompson stayed persistent, having tied it up 3-3 with the most recent game not allowing Nishioka a single point. Later, Nishioka botched a shot that hit the net, allowing Thompson to keep it even at 4-4.
No player won two games in a row in the first set, until Thompson made it 5-4 where he had to endure multiple deuces. Thompson’s drop shots and aces kept it competitive in the first set and Nishioka couldn’t get past the long rallies early, getting tired and hitting the net.
Thompson would continue his service game having recorded another serve to close out the game, winning the first set 6-4. To do so, Thompson won the last three sets in a row.
Nishioka came out the second set hot. Thompson had an unbelievable shot right on the line as he quickly made it 2-2 thanks to better backhands that Nishioka couldn’t return.
In the next game, Nishioka miraculously brought it to deuce after returning a lob from Thompson that had the crowd roaring. Nishioka used more good ball placement to get out of the deuce. Nishioka’s gain of life had Thompson frustrated, where he threw his racket in irritation over not getting a point on another long rally. Though Nishioka started playing better, he couldn’t put Thompson away and has yet to win two games in a row. The set would become 3-3 in large part of Thompson’s aces, who had nine at that point.
At 4-4, Thompson suffered more unforced errors giving up a 30-0 lead to eventually lose the game that had gone to a deuce. With Nishioka now up 5-4, a rain delay suspended play.
The rain delay lasted over four hours, with players fatigued and fans making way for the exits. However, both players wanted to continued in order to declare a true winner, especially at the Atlanta Open’s last match ever.
When play resumed, Nishioka had Thompson on the run with his wide returns once again to take a 6-5 lead in the second set.
Thompson would deal two more aces in the next game to send the second set to a tiebreaker. Nishioka would take a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker, frustrating Thompson once again. Nishioka dominated the tiebreaker, winning it 7-2.
The third set would stay competitive as both players battled physically and mentally going into the early morning, but Nishioka would take a 2-0 lead. Nishioka took a commanding 3-1 lead. It seemed that out of the multi-hour rain delay that Nishioka was fresh and energized. Nishioka’s returns were too powerful for Thompson with the pressure mounted on him being down 4-1.
Nishioka won the final game with Thompson’s last shot being out of bounds, a common thread for Thompson this match.
Nishioka is now 3-0 in championship matches with all three wins coming on hard courts.
“Yeah, I didn’t think that much about that. It’s wonderful to make history and represent the tennis players coming from Asia,” Nishioka said. “Shang Juncheng who made the semifinal here is a teenager and he’s an up-and-coming player too.”
This victory moves Nishioka into the top 50 in the world and gives him some hardware as he makes his way to Washington, D.C. for the DC Citi Open later this week.
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