Kei Nishikori's Last US Open Run Ends as Rei Sakamoto Advances

Kei Nishikori walked off Louis Armstrong’s outer courts with no fist pump, no theatrical wave, just a quiet, lingering look around Flushing Meadows. One match short of the US Open main draw, one match short of extending his Grand Slam story, Japan’s greatest men’s player bowed out to the man who wants to follow his path.

Rei Sakamoto, 20 years old and swinging freely, beat his childhood idol 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in the third round of qualifying on Aug 28, slamming down 19 aces to none and punching his ticket into the main draw. Nishikori, 36 and retiring at the end of the season, missed out on a final appearance on one of the sport’s biggest stages.

Match Overview

For a moment, it looked like the script might hold. Nishikori, the 2014 US Open finalist and the first Asian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final, broke early and surged to a 2-0 lead. The old patterns returned: early aggression, clean ball-striking, the sense that he could still control a match with his timing rather than brute force.

Then Sakamoto’s serve arrived.

The younger man shook off the slow start, found his rhythm and began to hit through the court. Two breaks later, the first set belonged to the world No. 157, who repeatedly uncorked first serves Nishikori could only watch skid past. The gap in power was stark: Sakamoto finished with 33 winners to Nishikori’s 14, and the ace count told its own story.

Nishikori stayed with him in the second set, both men holding serve as the tension built. The rallies grew tighter, the ball-striking cleaner. Every Nishikori hold drew warm applause from fans who knew what this place meant to him — the 2014 final, deep runs, long nights under the lights, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics who so often played his best on hard courts.

But when the tie-break arrived, youth took over. Sakamoto raced to a 6-1 lead, hammering serves and stepping in on anything short. Nishikori clawed at the deficit but could not close it, and after 1 hour 42 minutes, Sakamoto sealed the match, his 19th ace crashing down as the final punctuation.

Emotional Farewell

For Nishikori, the emotion was complex, and he did not hide it.

“It’s a refreshing emotion, as if he totally blew out the last flame of a candle,” he said, describing the loss to his compatriot with the same honesty that marked his career. A former world No. 4 and a qualifying wild card here in 2026, he admitted he could not live with the level when Sakamoto raised it.

“I felt I wasn’t able to cope once the level went up slightly,” he said. “Not happy to lose today, but I mean I’m happy for Rei, he’s the next Japanese top player so I hope he can make the top 10 soon. It was a great week for me. I was really enjoying it.”

Sakamoto, for his part, handled the moment with a mixture of respect and ambition. He had just ended the qualifying campaign of the player who inspired a generation of Japanese tennis fans, yet he spoke like someone intent on building his own name.

“My serves were really good, and I also managed to play aggressively,” he said. “I hope to become a player on par with Kei.”

The numbers backed his assessment. The serve gave him free points, the forehand allowed him to dictate, and he never blinked when the finish line came into view. The pressure that once crushed younger opponents of Nishikori now worked the other way.

Final Thoughts

For Nishikori, this was not just another defeat. It was a farewell of sorts to a place that helped define him.

“I really enjoyed my entire tennis life,” he said. “It was almost 20 years with the pros and especially here I had great memories, one time final, semis, many great matches I played here in New York so happy to play in the last moment.”

Those “last moments” at Flushing Meadows came after a brutal final stretch of his career. Since left hip surgery in January 2022, injuries have stalked him relentlessly, limiting his schedule and blunting the explosive movement that once separated him from the pack. Even in this final season, he has had to pick his spots.

He had been slated to play US Open mixed doubles with Naomi Osaka, a pairing that would have drawn huge attention, but he ultimately did not take part. The body has dictated terms too often in recent years.

There is, though, one more stop.

Nishikori is scheduled to compete at the Japan Open in Tokyo starting in late September, a home farewell fitting for a player who carried the flag for Japanese men’s tennis for nearly two decades. Sakamoto, meanwhile, moves into his first US Open main draw, his campaign beginning on Aug 30, stepping through a door Nishikori spent years holding open.

One era is closing. Another is walking onto court, racket raised, trying to serve its way into the spotlight.