Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka defeated France’s Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in Saturday’s semifinal match at the Atlanta Open at Atlantic Station. Both players were unranked in this tournament and played each other for the first time in their careers.
The semifinal match began with Rinderknech having first serve, looking strong with his ace traveling over 110 mph. But he soon suffered two double faults that cost him the first game of the match.
When Nishioka was up to serve, he placed the ball in places where Rinderknech couldn’t return. Rinderknech being much taller (6-foot-5, compared to the 5-7 Nishioka) and having a longer reach wasn’t much of an impact early on as Nishioka took an early 2-0 lead. Rinderknech won the next two games with some aces of his own. Rinderknech finished the game with 12 aces compared to Nishioka’s two.
Rinderknech continued to hit the ball too hard, resulting in it landing out of bounds. Nishioka made it 5-3. Rinderknech couldn’t believe he hit the net on his returns as often as he did and he also couldn’t get to the right spots to return shots. This led to Nishioka easily winning the first set 6-3.
The second set began the way the first set ended, with Rinderknech’s balance off and he was unable to return any serves, either hitting them out of bounds or into the net again. Rinderknech’s service game picked up, dealing a 128-mph serve and a 132-mph ace soon after. This helped him even the second set at 1-1.
The second set had longer rallies than the first set, and Nishioka seemingly had the endurance to go on as he didn’t get tired, unlike Rinderknech. Nevertheless, aces kept Rinderknech in the game, making it 2-2. Rinderknech returned with a drop shot in the fifth game of the second set, something Nishioka wasn’t ready for.
Nishioka jumped to a large lead in the next game, but Rinderknech had arguably his best game yet, fighting off a deuce to snag the win and avoid the deficit that would’ve gotten Nishioka to victory sooner. Nishioka struggled as he inched closer to finishing the set, but missed a return point blank that cost him the game. Rinderknech would look to take a 5-3 lead, waking up from his slow start.
Rinderknech’s ball placement improved as well, as now Nishioka was unable to get to the spots and return. Rinderknech closed out the second set strong, dealing out two aces and a drop shot. Securing the second set jolted Rinderknech into the third and final set.
The third set continued to be competitive, as the first game had three deuces before Nishioka could take it. It came down to whoever controlled serve for the most part. The crowd started cheering for both players as fans got their money’s worth, the match having gone to three sets.
The pattern continued with the players who had controlled service winning their respective sets. The players were evenly matched as it became 3-3 in the third set, both players making unforced errors. Nishioka reached 4-3 with the crowd behind him as the final became within arm’s reach.
Then at 4-4, Rinderknech and Nishioka split a pair of amazing rallies that went over 20 returns, giving life to the crowd late in the evening. Things got tighter down the stretch as they traded points.
But in the end, Nishioka came out on top, having to go to deuce twice to defeat Rinderknech 6-4 in the third set.
The match’s stats were similar by game end, but the result could be pinpointed to Rinderknech’s five double faults, whereas Nishioka had zero.
Nishioka fell right on his back with relief after winning the match.
“It’s not easy to play like that against him. Games like these are tough to play all the time,” Nishioka said. “But if I can play like this, then my rankings can be back into the top-50 or better in a couple of weeks.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Nishioka will play Australia’s Jordan Thompson, ranked fourth in this tournament, on Sunday. Nishioka leads Thompson in head-to-head matchups 4-0, with their most recent meeting at the Rolex Paris Masters in 2023.
“We know each other well from playing together many times, so it’s going to be a long game for sure. I will have to worry about his service game and his groundstroke is going to be a battle,” Nishioka said. “It’s going to be a mental battle tomorrow. We both want to win, so whoever can play more aggressive during important points will win.”
Thompson could add another singles title this year, following up his Los Cabos, Mexico win in February. For Nishioka, it would be his first singles title this year.
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