Sabine made an amazing comeback in the first set, coming back from a 1-5 deficit to win in six games. After the incredible comeback in the first set, Sabine hit the ground running in set two, charging to a 4-1 lead. After hitting an impressive five aces in the second set and breaking her opponent’s serve in the fourth game, Sabine broke Pliskova’s serve again in game eight, and served out the match for a strong victory. The number-1-seeded German had an emotionally charged victory, her eyes overflowing with tears of joy. The final score was 7-5, 6-3. "I always fight for every single point no matter what the score is. That's won me a lot of matches in the past, and that's how I won this match, as well," commented the hard-hitting German on her match on the WTA website.
In other news, young Japanese tennis player Yoshihito Nishioka (VCORE Xi 98, POLYTOUR SPIN, SHT-PRO) won his first ever ATP title at the Shanghai Challenger last week on September 7th, 2014. While the young player managed to take the match in full sets, it was a grueling match that lasted three hours and four minutes, making it the longest final on the Challenger circuit this year. Yoshihito saved a match point to defeat the number 2 seed with a final score of 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3). With this win, he became the youngest Japanese player to win a title since 2008, and his ranking rose 78 spots to 167.
Japan’s Toray Pan Pacific Open is underway, with several YONEX players competing for the title. Competitors include Angelique Kerber (VCORE Xi 100), who made it to the Bank of the West Classic final in August; Coco Vandeweghe (EZONE Ai 98), winner of June’s Topshelf Open; Ana Ivanovic (EZONE Ai 98), Western & Southern Open finalist; Kimiko Date-Krumm (S-FIT, POLYTOUR SPIN), 2014 US Open doubles quarterfinalist; Belinda Bencic (EZONE Ai 100, POLYTOUR HS 125), first-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist at the US Open this year; Sabine Lisicki (VCORE Tour 97, POLYTOUR SPIN), who set a new record for fastest serve; and Martina Hingis (EZONE Ai 100, POLYTOUR HS 125, SHT-PRO) US Open doubles finalist.
The Toray Pan Pacific is a hard court tournament held in the Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo, Japan, which houses the large 10,000-seat Ariake Coliseum. YONEX will be providing official stringing service for the tournament and you can find a small booklet there which features YONEX’s hard-working stringing team. Be sure to pick up a booklet and get an indepth view of how your racquet works!
Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open
Women’s Singles [Final]
[1]Sabine Lisicki (VCORE Tour 97, POLYTOUR SPIN)(GER) def. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 7-5, 6-3
Shanghai Challenger
Men’s Singles [Final]
Yoshihito Nishioka (VCORE Xi 98, POLYTOUR SPIN, SHT-PRO)(JPN) def. [2] Somdev Devvarman (IND) 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3)