Kei Nishikori battles through to next round in Tokyo

05 October 2015 11:31

Second seed Kei Nishikori survived a scare before advancing past Borna Coric in the first round of the ATP Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships on Monday.

The 18-year-old Croatian cruised through the first set, but the home favourite and two-time champion reeled off five straight games from 3-1 up in the second to take a stranglehold on proceedings.

Nishikori, who is aiming to secure one of the four remaining places at the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, went on to win 2-6 6-1 6-2, much to the delight of the vast majority of the 10,000 spectators at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum.

He will next face American Sam Querrey, who saw off Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.

Nishikori was joined in round two by compatriot Tatsuma Ito, who posted a three-set triumph in the all-Japanese encounter with Yoshihito Nishioka.

Tatsuma registered a 3-6 6-0 7-5 victory and will take on either top seed Stan Wawrinka or Radek Stepanek in the second round.

Also on Monday, Czech Jiri Vesely was a 6-4 6-4 winner against Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama.

Source: PA