Japan’s Nishioka beats Thompson for title in rainy Atlanta

Yoshihito Nishioka won his third career ATP title early Monday morning, overcoming Australian Jordan Thompson and a nearly six-hour rain delay to win the Atlanta Open final.

The 28-year-old Japanese left-hander recovered from the downpours to beat Thompson 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 in the first American hard-court warm-up event for the US Open.

“It’s a wonderful week for me,” Nishioka said. “I had a little bit of luck after the rain.”

Nishioka, world number 86, improved to 5-0 in career ATP matches against 41st-ranked Thompson, with each victory coming on hard court.

Nishioka, who was playing in his sixth career ATP final, added the 2018 Shenzhen Open and the 2022 Korea Open in Seoul to his tally.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” Nishioka said. “Third title, I couldn’t believe it since the beginning of the year.”

Thompson, 30, was eliminated in his bid for his second title of the year. He won his first ATP title in February in Los Cabos, beating Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final.

“It’s not the result we wanted,” Thompson said. “We made it to the final. It’s not a bad week.”

Nishioka will be the eventual winner of the Atlanta title, with the event suspended after this year.

Thompson broke Nishioka to lead 5-4 and then held serve to close out the first set. Nishioka led 5-4 with Thompson, the Australian serving at 30-15 in the 10th game of the second set when the rain came.

Rain showers interrupted the match for nearly six hours before it resumed, with both players holding serve in a tiebreak that Nishioka dominated, taking a 5-0 lead en route to forcing a third set.

The final set, which began just after midnight, began with Nishioka breaking to lead 1-0 when Thompson hit a forehand wide.

Nishioka saved a break point in the second game and three more in the fourth game, two on errors by Thompson and the last on a forehand smash.

Nishioka then broke again for a 4-1 advantage with a backhand crosscourt winner and held twice more to clinch victory after two hours and 40 minutes when Thompson sent a backhand return long.

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