{"id":17595,"date":"2014-09-05T19:09:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T19:09:53","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-09-05T19:09:53","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T19:09:53","slug":"Kei-Nishikori-is-first-Asian-to-make-Grand-Slam-final-USOPEN","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=17595","title":{"rendered":"Kei Nishikori is first Asian to make Grand Slam final #USOPEN"},"content":{"rendered":"

How exciting is this?!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kei Nishkori has kept fighting through imposing obstacles at this United States Open<\/strong>, his coach Michael Chang has kept reminding him, \u201cGreat effort, but the tournament is not over yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

His remarkable 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory on Saturday made him the first man from Asia to reach a Grand Slam singles final.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s, I don\u2019t know, 4 o\u2019clock in the morning,\u201d Nishikori, 24, said of the time in his native Japan. \u201cBut I hope a lot of people are watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

If they were not on Saturday, they will be soon. Nishikori, who left home at age 14 to train at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Fla., was a star in his homeland. His run here and his victory over Djokovic will take him to a new level.<\/p>\n

In Monday\u2019s final, Nishikori will face the winner of Saturday\u2019s second semifinal between No. 2-seeded Roger Federer and No. 14 Marin Cilic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 10th-seeded Nishikori is the lowest seed to reach the final of the United States Open since Pete Sampras, who was seeded 17th when he won the title in 2002 in what turned out to be his final professional match. But Nishikori is just getting started and might well have made this kind of breakthrough earlier if not for a series of injuries, including a serious right elbow problem that required surgery in 2009 and knocked him far out of the top 100.<\/p>\n

Watch match point!<\/strong>
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