Tennis: Wildcard for Japan's star

Kei Nishikori. Photo / AP

Japanese rising star Kei Nishikori has been granted a wildcard entry for next month's Heineken Open in Auckland.

The 63rd-ranked player in the world, 18-year-old Nishikori has already proved his worth with an ATP tournament title to his credit.

He won the ATP event at Delray Beach coming through qualifying and winning eight successive matches taking out world No12 James Blake in the final.

After the title triumph his ranking improved from 244 to 131.

At this year's US Open he reached the fourth round defeating Juan Monaco in his opening match and world No 4 David Ferrer 7-5 in the fifth set in an enthralling contest in just under four hours in the third round.

He was knocked out by Juan Martin del Potro.

Tournament director Richard Palmer said: "It's very exciting to have a player like him in the field, especially since he is rated so highly by players and tennis officials around the world as someone who could be in the top-20 by the end of 2009."