Kei Nishikori's hopes of a claiming his second title of the season were wrecked with a straight-sets defeat to Croatia's Marin Cilic in the final of the Swiss Indoors on Sunday.
Cilic, who beat Nishikori in the 2014 U.S. Open final, rode a dominant serve and strong forehand to his 16th tour title, winning 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) in 1 hour, 37 minutes.
Nishikori, who is now back to an equal career high of world No. 4, had to make do with his fourth runner-up finish of the season but was upbeat despite the disappointing loss.
"I played a good match with Cilic," said Nishikori, who reached the final of this tournament in 2011 before being overpowered by former world No. 1 Roger Federer.
"My opponent made a good start and that put me under pressure. After I allowed him to break he played offensive tennis and was relaxed."
"(But) I was able to return to the final of this tournament for the first time in five years and it has been a good experience. Hopefully I can win it next year," he said.
Tour veteran Cilic, who is now back in the world top 10, fired 28 winners, including six aces, in his second victory of the year over Nishikori, having prevailed on the lawns of Wimbledon in September.
"I knew it was going to be important for me to start well," Cilic told atpworldtour.com.
"Obviously it was a big match for me. Being in the final of a 500 tournament against someone like Kei, who has been playing good tennis during the week, I knew it was going to be important to have energy straight away.
"I was playing well in the first set with my shot-making and I was serving smart."