18-year old Japanese professional tennis player Kei Nishikori pulled off a huge upset Sunday at the International Tennis Championships in Delray Beach, Florida, when he knocked off world #12 James Blake in the tournament finals.  The win capped off a huge run for the young Asian, who had to win eight matches in nine days to take home his first career title.

By winning this match, Nishikori, who was ranked #244 and had only played six tournaments as a professional, reached two major milestones.  He became the youngest player to win an ATP level tournament since Lleyton Hewitt won the Adelaide International as a 16-year old in 1998.  He also becomes only the second Japanese player to win an ATP tournament.  The other was Shuzo Matsuoka, a journeyman player who won a title at Seoul in 1992.  Coincidentally, Matsuoka was known as the "King of Qualifying", for his ability to survive the qualifying rounds to make the main draw more often than just about any player in the late 80's-early 90's.

But before Nishikori gets too excited, he's got a long way to go before he reaches the status of Matsuoka.  You see, Shuzo, whose ranking peaked at #46, became such a hero in Japan that Nintendo created one of only two customized Mii's (avatars for the Nintendo Wii) for him.

That's Shuzo on the right.  Yes, Japan gets that excited about having a top 50 world athlete.  It's the equivalent of EA Sports putting Austin Kearns on the front of MLB '08.  Still, it's something to aspire to for the young Nishikori.  Who knows, he could become bigger than Randy Bass.

Just For Fun kei nishikori, shuzo matsuoka, wii