Brilliant Nishikori claims Brisbane title

BRISBANE, Australia: Japanese star Kei Nishikori claimed his first title since 2016 when he downed Russia´s Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the final of the Brisbane International on Sunday.

The Japanese star had not won a tournament since Memphis in 2016 and was hampered by a wrist injury the following year which forced a break from the 2018 tour.

He was runner-up in Brisbane in 2017 but went one better this year in a superb final.

Nishikori dominated his Russian rival throughout, despite a slight hiccup when one poor service game cost him the second set.

The second seed started slowly and went down 0-3 to the Russian.

But he recovered to break back and then seized the advantage at 3-3 when he broke Medvedev again, taking the first set in 42 minutes.

Nishikori was all over the Russian in the second set, his powerful and well-directed groundstrokes forcing Medvedev into errors.

Medvedev held on against Nishikori´s multiple chances to break at 2-2 and 3-3 and took advantage of his opponent´s poor service game to break ahead.

But any thought the Russian would take the momentum into the decider proved wrong as Nishikori stormed to a 5-1 lead, eventually wrapping up the final in just over two hours.