On the 17th October, wildcard Shintaro Mochizuki, ranked 215th in ATP played in his first ever ATP 500 against Tomas Martin Etcheverry, ranked 31 in the world. The night before his match he went to a karaoke alone and sang by himself. In a tough fought match, he beat the Argentinian 6-4, 7-6 in a shock victory. A very emotional Mochizuki could be seen head in his towel at the end of the match in disbelief.

The second round promised to be a lot more challenging because he faced the defending champion Taylor Fritz 10th in the world. Despite the huge crowd support, Mochizuki inevitably but very bravely lost the first set 0-6.

However for the second set, Mochizuki won his first game 40-0 finishing with an ace. The play on court was of high intensity, fast and precise until the break finally came for Mochizuki at 4-3. The crowd went wild with excitement. Both players held their serve to 5-4. When Mochizuki came back on court to serve for the set, the chant of the crowd was deafening and Mochizuki served impeccably taking the set convincingly on 40-15 giving him a 6-4 win.

The 3rd set would either make Japanese tennis history or seal Mochizuki’s fate and exit. A very confident Mochizuki got an opportunity to break in the first game but didn’t convert. He came back on court to the ever increasing chanting and clapping from the crowd and took the next game. Japanese hopes were kept alive until Fritz broke Mochizuki at 4-2 but at 5-3 Mochizuki hit a perfect drop shot followed by a winning overhead smash to break back 5-4. At 6-5 Mochizuki served to stay in the set with a clearly agitated Fritz complaining to his box. Mochizuki held serve and it was a tie break.

Mochizuki, now looking unstoppable took the mini break immediately on Fritz serve. The onslaught continued with Mochizuki completely in control, serving beautifully, not hesitating to go to the net, executing perfect drop shots and with a huge overhead smash enjoyed his biggest career win and caused the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

On court an incredibly excited Mochizuki admitted that he thought he would lose the match after the first set but found some momentum in the second set. “I felt great, I really believed in myself, I have practiced so much. I honestly don’t know if I can win another match but I will do my very best and try to win and take this opportunity”.