Nishikori Earns 450th Career ATP Tour Win In Madrid

Kei Nishikori
Kei Nishikori (photo: Ion Alcoba Beitia/MMC)

MADRID/WASHINGTON, April 24, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

As the second day of main-draw play at the ATP Masters 1000 Mutua Madrid Open unfolded, former Madrid finalist Kei Nishikori opened play on Manolo Santana Stadium Thursday by garnering his 450th career ATP Tour victory. It made him just the third man born in 1989 or later to reach that number, after Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev.

The 35-year-old, 64th-ranked Japanese star defeated No. 83 Aleksandar Vukic of Australia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in an hour and 59 minutes to advance to the second round against No. 29 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada.

“I had no idea,” Nishikori said during his on-court interview with ATP Media afterward. “I just try to play one match at a time. It’s a lot, yes. … I have played for 18 years now, hopefully I can reach 500 [wins].”

The former World No. 4, who was making his first appearance in Madrid in four years, after being hampered by a variety of injuries the past three years, earned his first Top-100 win on clay since defeating No. 25 Karen Khachanov of Russia at Roland-Garros in 2021. He hit 28 winners, converted three of 11 break points and outpointed Vukic 94-88.

Nishikori closed out his 19th career victory in Madrid on his fourth match-point opportunity with his fourth ace.

“I adjust well,” Nishikori said during an interview with Tennis Channel, speaking of going from hard courts to clay. “It’s maybe not my favorite surface but I try to do whatever I can to do my best.”

Nishikori becomes the eighth active player – and the first Asian – to reach the 450-win plateau, joining Novak Djokovic (1136), Richard Gasquet (609), Marin Cilic (590), Gaël Monfils (581), Stan Wawrinka (579), Alexander Zverev (482) and Grigor Dimitrov (471).

Alcaraz withdraws from Madrid

World No. 3 and second seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain withdrew from the tournament, citing an adductor injury to his right leg sustained during the Barcelona final against Holger Rune last Sunday.

Alcaraz announced his decision during a mid-day press conference at Caja Mágica.

“In the Barcelona final, I felt something in the left hamstring. I didn’t think that it was that serious,” the 21-year-old Alcaraz said. “I’m really disappointed that I’m not able to play here in Madrid. It is a place that I love playing front of my people, in front of my family, my friends. They are not able to travel so much, so here is a special place for me.”

Alcaraz, who is 28-2 on Spanish clay courts since 2022 and has complied a 14-1 win-loss record at Caja Mágica, admitted it was a “really difficult decision” to decide not to go ahead and play Madrid. “I think it is what it is,” he said. Now, he has his sights set on the ATP Masters 1000 event Rome, which begins May 7.

While Alcaraz indicated his ultimate goal is to be ready for the May 25th start to Roland-Garros, he said: “If I don’t play any tournaments before Roland-Garros, I don’t care about it. I know what I have to do to play good tennis.”

Alcaraz’s place in the Madrid draw was taken by 90th-ranked lucky loser Kamil Majchrzak of Poland, who will face another lucky loser, 78th-ranked Gabriel Diallo of Canada, in the second round.

Quintet of #NextGen ATP rising stars gaining attention

This year’s tournament includes five #NextGenATP rising stars among the 96 players comprising the singles main draw. Two of them, No. 22 seed Jakub Mensik of Czechia and 373rd-ranked wild card Federico Cina of Italy are already through to the second round. The 19-year-old Mensik received a first-round bye for being one of the 32 seeded players and 18-year-old Cina won his opening match on Wednesday impressively over 169th-ranked wild card Coleman Wong of Hong Kong, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

On Friday, Mensik will face No. 119 Ethan Quinn of the United States in his opening match while Cina take on No. 23 seed Sebastian Korda of the United States.

First things first, though, and on Thursday it was time for the remaining trio of youngsters – No. 65 Joao Fonseca of Brazil, 148th-ranked Spanish wild card Martin Landaluce and No. 69 Learner Tien of the United States – to take to the red clay for their opportunity to advance in the draw.

Fonseca, 18, who has the highest profile of the quartet of #NextGenATP players in the Madrid field, won his first ATP Tour title earlier this season on clay at Buenos Aires in a 250-series event. Soon, he followed it up by capturing a Challenger 175 event on a hard court at Phoenix. A year ago, at age 17, he became the youngest man to win a main-draw match in tournament history.

In his opening Madrid match on Manolo Santana Stadium after taking a couple of weeks away from the Tour to rest and practice, Fonseca defeated 114th-ranked Danish qualifier Elmer Moller, winner of last week’s Oeiras Open 4 Challenger 125 event in Portugal and making his ATP Tour main-draw debut, 6-2, 6-3, in an hour and 13 minutes.

Fonseca won 73 percent of his first-serve points and faced no break points. He hit 16 winners, converted four of 13 break-point chances and outpointed Moller 65-51 to advance to the second round against No. 11 seed Tommy Paul of the United States.

“I love playing on clay, I was born on the clay,” Fonseca said in his on-court interview with ATP Media after improving his tour-level win-loss record to 10-5 this season. “I like to play on it, even with altitude. I like to focus on my serves and play aggressive. I’m feeling good this week. Me and my team felt it was time to rest a little bit [after Miami], focus, feel a little bit at home [in Rio de Janeiro], rest mentally. Then come here to do the clay season. I’m very happy to get the win today.”

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Landaluce, one of seven Spaniards to begin in the 96-player draw, took on No. 91 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. Landaluce was up a set and a break and secured a match point at 5-4 (40-30) in the second set but wasn’t able to close it out. Instead, Norrie recovered to win the set and the match, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4, in two hours and 41 minutes.

Despite losing, Landaluce struck 44 winners but also made 66 unforced errors, while Norrie countered with 28 winners to 28 unforced errors. The British No. 3 converted five of 10 break points and outpointed the young Spaniard 116-107.

During his on-court interview with ATP Media, Norrie spoke highly of Landaluce. “He played really well; I know he’s a really good player. I had to just fight every point and play point for point. … At the end, just a couple of points here and there was the difference. It was an amazing match. … He had nothing to lose and played really good.”

Later Thursday evening, Tien, 19, faced fellow American Marcos Giron, ranked 45th, in their first career meeting and lost, 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (4), in two hours and seven minutes on Stadium 3. Tien served for the match at 5-4 in the third set but was broken. Then, Giron won on his second match point in the decisive tie-break despite being outpointed by Tien 101-92.

Around the Caja Mágica

• No. 51 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina needed three hours and 16 minutes to complete a grueling 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 victory over No. 61 Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia on Court 6. Etcheverry saved 14 of 15 break points in the final set, including eight – alone – in eighth game in holding for 5-3. The victory advanced the Argentine to face No. 10 seed and recent Monte-Carlo finalist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.

• Alexandre Muller of France, ranked 39th, advanced to face fellow Frenchman, No. 21 seed Ugo Humbert, after his opponent David Goffin of Belgium was forced to retire early in the third set after an hour and 39 minutes of play on Court 5. Muller and the 49th-ranked Goffin had split the first two sets with the Frenchman winning the opener 6-3 and the Belgian taking the second set 6-3. Muller led 1-0 in the decider when Goffin retired.

• No. 43 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy battled past 47th-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in two hours and three minutes on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium to advance against No. 6 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia. It was just the second Top-50 win in eight tries this season for the Italian No. 5. He overcame 45 unforced errors by hitting 39 winners – 31 of them from his forehand side – and outpointed Kecmanovic 85-81.

Also advancing to the second round were: No. 34 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, No. 44 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy, No. 46 Luciano Darderi of Italy, No. 57 Nicolas Jarry of Chile, No. 63 Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 68th-ranked qualifier Jacob Fearnley of  Great Britain, 78th-ranked lucky loser Gabriel Diallo of Canada, No. 79 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, and No. 103 Reilly Opelka of the United States.

Thursday’s Mutua Madrid Open results

Friday’s Mutua Madrid Open order of play

By the numbers

Gaël Monfils‘ 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Borna Gojo of Croatia Wednesday evening was his first Mutua Madrid Open win since 2022. The 42nd-ranked Frenchman’s triumph advanced him to face defending champion Andrey Rublev of Russia in the second round Friday evening.

“Quotable …”

“At the beginning, he served one second serve. I think he had a 94 first-serve percentage, he played great. I [let the] storm pass, then different tactics. I served more with kick and tried to play a little bit differently, maybe let him go and not do so much. At the end, just run, run to the ball. It’s not a pretty win, but it’s a win.”

– No. 42 Gaël Monfils of France, during his on-court interview with ATP Media following his first-round win Wednesday night over Borna Gojo of Croatia.

 

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