Tennis Prose




Oct/20

19

The Nishioka vs Edmund Rivalry

Yoshihito Nishioka and Kyle Edmund are both 25 years old and established competitors on the ATP World Tour. The Japanese southpaw stylist is ranked 56 while the hard hitting Brit is ranked 47.

The rivalry began seven years ago in 2013 at a Futures tournament semifinal in Florida (clay) when Kyle was 18 and Yoshi was 17. Edmund prevailed 63 61.

One year later they played again, also in a Florida Futures final (clay) and again Edmund won 60 63.

The third meeting was a year later in 2015 at the Hong Kong Challenger semi (hard) and again Edmund continued his mastery of Nishioka 76 60.

Also in 2015 the two played in the Aptos Challenger on hard in California (QF) and Nishioka must have figured something out as he won his first set vs Edmund but lost the duel 63 36 36.

Weeks later Nishioka and Edmund played in the third round of US Open qualifying and finally Nishioka solved the Edmund puzzle 62 06 75 and qualified for his third Slam main draw (lost to Berdych in three sets at French Open that same year and at US Open to Paolo Lorenzi after qualifyinghe year before). At that 2015 US Open, Nishioka beat 80th ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round in five sets 64 26 67 61 62 and then lost to Thomaz Bellucci in the second round.

Today in Cologne, Germany, five years since their last match in New York, Nishioka and Edmund crossed paths for the sixth time and once again Nishioka was victorious 64 60.

An interesting rivalry between two totally different physical specimens, one a 5-foot-seven technical whiz coached by Mitsuru Takada, the other a 6-2 baseline powerhouse coached by Franco Davin and Colin Beecher.

Note: Nishioka and Edmund also had two ITF junior matches. At Wimbledon 2013 2R, won by Edmund 63 61. And at Canadian Open QF 2012, won by Edmund 62 62.

So overall, Edmund won the first six matches vs Nishioka, two in junior and four in the pro ranks, and Nishioka has won the last two.

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1 comment

  • Scoop Malinowski · October 19, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    So overall Edmund leads 6-2 but he hasn’t beaten Nishioka since 2015 in Aptos. Big credit to Nishioka for mastering a tough player like Edmund.

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