Nishikori steadies to win Olympic bronze

Kei Nishikori withstood a second-set fightback to oust Rafael Nadal for the Olympic men’s singles bronze medal on Sunday.

The Japanese star beat the Spaniard 6-2 6-7(1) 6-3 to win his country’s first tennis medal since 1920.

Nishikori led Nadal 6-2 5-2 before the No.3 seed recovered to force a third set.

But in the end, Nishikori delivered the Beijing gold medallist his second straight defeat in as many days; in Saturday’s semifinals, Nadal went down in a third-set tiebreak to Juan Martin del Potro.

Nishikori #jpn vence a Nadal #esp 62 67 63 y gana el bronce #Olympics #Rio2016 @Mentes_B_Videos pic.twitter.com/HaU7r0Egfx

— Cristian Hliba (@_cristianhache) August 14, 2016

“I didn’t know what to do from 5?2 [in the second set], I got a little bit tight. He start playing better. For sure I was rushing to win, you know, to get the last couple points. But also he start playing better. So I give credit for him,” Nishikori said.

“I tried to refresh my mind in the third set. I knew I wasn’t stepping in. As soon as I got the break, I tried to play more aggressive. I played with good confidence. So very happy to win today.

“I knew before playing Olympics that if I can play good tennis, good, solid tennis, I have a chance to get a medal. I was playing for my country. This is something different from other tour. But I was very enjoying.

“For sure this experience will help for my confidence and for my future.”

Nadal nonetheless comes away from the Rio 2016 Olympics with a gold medal in men’s doubles, which he won with Marc Lopez.