Kunieda edges Oda in victorious return to Rakuten Japan Open
Shingo Kunieda made a triumphant return to the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo to win his second Rakuten Japan Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships title over the weekend after beating world No.5 Tokito Oda 6-3 2-6 7-6(3).
Just one day short of 400 days since clinching his third Paralympic men’s singles gold medal at the same venue, Kunieda and world No. 5 Oda thrilled the 7000-strong centre court crowd who stayed on to watch the wheelchair final after the two singles semi-finals in the ATP 500 tournament.
The ITF 2 event made its first appearance integrated alongside the ATP 500 series in 2019 and this year’s wheelchair event marked its return to the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour for the first time since the COVID 19 pandemic, featuring a field of eight of Japan’s leading players.
Rakuten Open👑
— 国枝慎吾/Shingo Kunieda (@shingokunieda) October 9, 2022
沢山の方々に応援して頂きました！また思い出が増えました。本当に有難うございました。また来年お会いしましょう😘@rakutenopen #楽天オープン pic.twitter.com/e9OFZ6LPOG
Oda made a first-round exit against 2019 runner-up Stefan Olsson as a 13-year-old three years ago. However, having made remarkable progress in the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour Rankings in the last 18 months, the now 16-year-old continued to demonstrate the exciting future ahead of him as he took a set off Kunieda for the first time in four international meetings before Kunieda snatched the final set tie-break.
“I am really happy to play in front of so many spectators. It was another dream come true when I got to play in front of a large crowd. I think it was the best stage with Tokito Oda’s super play. Congratulations to Tokito,” said Kunieda, who also confirmed that he would like to see more ATP Tour events integrating wheelchair tennis tournaments.
With Kunieda sitting out the men’s doubles, victory went to Daisuke Arai and Takuya Miki in another closely fought contest, the top seeds beating Oda and Yudai Kawai, another of Japan’s up-and-coming junior players, 6-4 7-6(4).