SHENZHEN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Japanese rising star Yoshihito Nishioka lifted his first ATP trophy in career at Shenzhen Open, defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 here on Sunday.
Nishioka missed three championship points on Herbert's serve at 5-3 in the third set. But the Japanese was strong enough to defend his own serve, falling to the ground after converting his fifth championship point on his own serve.
In the first set, Nishioka managed to break Herbert in the fifth game, but the Frenchman broke back in the sixth game. The two players were both strong at their own serves and fought to 5-5. The Japanese benefitted from his aggressive attacking in the 11th game and broke the Frenchman again and survived two breakpoints on his own serve to win the first set 7-5.
Herbert's came back strong at the second set, who managed to break Nishioka three times to win it 6-2.
