Kei Nishikori has become the first Japanese player in 80 years to reach the men’s quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a hard-fought win over sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
Nishikori, the 24th seed, won the fourth-round match 2-6 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-3.
In a match during which both players required treatment, Nishikori maintained his concentration and composure to register his best result in a grand slam event.
The last Japanese men to reach the last eight in Australia were Ryosuki Nunoi and Jiro Satoh who reached the quarters in 1932.
Only one other Japanese man, Shuzo Matsuoka at Wimbledon in 1995, has made the quarters of a grand slam in the Open era.
Nishikori was one of two Asian men to make the fourth round – the other, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin, withdrew with an injured hip when down two-sets-to-love to Briton Andy Murray earlier on Monday.
The 22-year-old Nishikori has claimed only one title in his four years on the ATP Tour.
After being troubled by injury in 2009 when his world ranking blew out to 420th, he improved over the past two seasons to finish 2011 at 25th.
His lone ATP Tour victory came at Delray Beach, Florida in 2008.
Nishikori plays Murray in the quarters.