Kei Nishikori made a winning debut to his European clay-court season on Thursday, battling past Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic in his opening match at the Mutua Madrid Open, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
And it was a special win: the 450th of his career.
“I had no idea,” Nishikori said when told of his latest milestone. “I just try to play one match at a time, and that’s a lot, yes.
“Hopefully I can reach 500.”
The 2014 US Open finalist and former world No. 4, who was born in 1989, is just the third man born in 1989 or later to reach that number, after Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev.
MOST CAREER WINS, MEN BORN IN 1989 OR LATER (tour-level):
- 482: Alexander Zverev [born in 1997]
- 471: Grigor Dimitrov [born in 1991]
- 450: Kei Nishikori [born in 1989]
- 393: Daniil Medvedev [born in 1996]
- 383: Milos Raonic [born in 1990]
Coincidentally, Dimitrov and Zverev both got their 450th career wins on the same day last year—September 1st, 2024—in their fourth-round matches at the US Open. Dimitrov was the first to do it with his victory over Andrey Rublev in the first match of the day on Arthur Ashe Stadium, then Zverev defeated Brandon Nakashima later in the day on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
