Third seed Kei Nishikori raced through his opening round match on Monday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, going on an eight-game run to advance 7-5, 6-1 over Dusan Lajovic.
"He showed great fight out there," said Nishikori. "I wish I could have played a better match, but have had good training sessions these past two weeks and am feeling good physically."
Both players traded routine service holds throughout most of the opening set, but Nishikori grabbed the first break of serve at 6-5 and never looked back. He stormed to a 5-0 lead in the second set and comfortably held serve to close out the match on his first attempt. Nishikori improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Lajovic to 2-0.
Nishikori seeks his second ATP World Tour title of 2016, having prevailed in February at the Memphis Open. He has enjoyed success before in Basel, defeating World No. 1 Novak Djokovic on his way to a runner-up finish in 2013.
The Japanese star next plays the winner of the first-round clash between Nicolas Mahut and Paolo Lorenzi. Nishikori leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalries over both Mahut and Lorenzi by 1-0.
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Fourth seed Marin Cilic also overcame a tricky first-round test against Mikhail Youzhny with flying colors, moving past the Russian veteran with a 6-4, 6-2 win. Cilic broke service in the opening game of each set and didn’t drop his lead throughout the match. He was nearly flawless in his own service games, dropping just six points in the first set and four in the second set.
Cilic is still in contention for one of the remaining spots in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. He’s currently No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Race to London with 2,590 points, although No. 7 Rafael Nadal has withdrawn for the year due to a wrist injury. He currently trails No. 9 Tomas Berdych by just 290 points. With Berdych's first-round loss on Monday in Vienna, Cilic could move past the Czech player if he is the last man standing in Basel.
Next up for the Croatian is the winner of the all-Spanish battle between Moscow champion Pablo Carreno Busta and Fernando Verdasco. Cilic has never played Carreno Busta, but leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Verdasco 7-5, including two wins this year in Tokyo and Cincinnati.
Also moving into the second round is Federico Delbonis, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Andrey Kuznetsov. Next up for the Argentine is the winner of the match between second seed Milos Raonic and qualifier Ricardas Berankis.
Donald Young advanced through his first-round match with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Illya Marchenko. Awaiting the American is the winner of the all-Swiss opening round between top seed Stan Wawrinka and wild card Marco Chiudinelli.