World No.17, Kei Nishikori has taken out the 2014 AAMI Classic title prevailing over No.7, Tomas Berdych in Saturday’s final at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.
Nishikori’s name joins that of his coach, three time winner, Michael Chang, on the coveted Lew Hoad trophy along with legends of the sport; Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Pat Cash, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick.
The 24-year-old was too good for Berdych in the final, claiming the match in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.
“I'm very happy the way I played today,” said Nishikori. “There were not many unforced errors and I was playing aggressive and was try to step inside of the baseline and it was working well. I played really well today.
“It’s very happy to win the tournament and it’s good to play good this week and good preparation for the Aussie Open.”
Despite losing the final Berdych said that the AAMI Classic had provided him with the perfect preparation for next week’s Australian Open.
“I think it was a very, very good match again, different scores but honestly I didn't come here for focusing on the score but more focusing on the game that I play and today was, in some stages, a better game than we played last time,” Berdych said.
This is Nishikori’s second tournament since arriving in Australia for the Australian Open. He was knocked out at the semifinal stage at the Brisbane International last week by Lleyton Hewitt.
Young Aussies Luke Saville and Ben Mitchell opened proceedings at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday afternoon, giving the crowd a taste of what’s to come in Australian men’s tennis.
Saville, 19, overcame his 21-year-old opponent Mitchell in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in front of an impressive centre court crowd.
Saturday was MDD Day at the AAMI Classic with tennis-goers encouraged to wear blue in support of Motor Neurone Day with merchandise available to purchase from the Motor Neurone Day Victoria marquee and proceeds going towards research into the debilitating disease.
The AAMI Classic will be back for another exciting four days of tennis action from January 7-10, 2015.
