Men's Tennis Weekly Roundup: Nishikori, Anderson, Bautista Agut begin season with titles; Switzerland deny Germany in Hopman Cup once again

Brisbane International: Kei Nishikori ends his title drought to lift Brisbane title

Nishikori finally ended his finals losing streak and defeated Medvedev

Kei Nishikori, who was beaten by Daniil Medvedev in the Tokyo final last season, finally ended his title drought and with that, his streak of losing 9 finals on the ATP Tour as he captured his first title since February 2016 with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win, taking revenge ahainst the young Russian.

Even though he lost most of those finals to the likes of Djokovic and Nadal, it was still pretty unusual for a player of his quality to be without a title for such a long time. So, with the win, the Japanese will likely be very relieved and also gain a lot of confidence going into the first Grand Slam of the season.

Daniil Medvedev, who lost in the final, may not be the most eye-catching player on tour, but he has been one of the most in-form players over the past few months and this week, he proved once again that he will be the one to watch for in the 2019 season.

The 22-year-old Russian, before losing to Nishikori, defeated some of the veterans of the men’s tour in Andy Murray, Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to the final.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who missed most of last season due to surgery and multiple injuries, came back this week after, hopefully, gaining full fitness, and had an extremely positive week as well.

The Frenchman defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis, Taro Daniel and the Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur, all in straight sets, before going out to Medvedev in the semis. He will be looking to get back to his best in the coming months.