Eighth seed Kei Nishikori overcame a slow start to advance to the second round at Roland Garros on Tuesday, blasting 47 winners to beat Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Nishikori, a quarter-finalist in Paris in 2015, is making his seventh appearance at the clay-court Grand Slam.
"Today was a tough match," said Nishikori. "I think he played well at certain moments. I think in the third and fourth set I started playing little better. [I'm] feeling pretty good. I mean, it wasn't a perfect match, but still, I think for first match, it was a good start of the tournament."
The Japanese right-hander reached the fourth round last year before falling to Frenchman Richard Gasquet. He will next face Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who beat Moldova's Radu Albot 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(3).
Nishikori has had an up-and-down European clay-court season so far. He reached the quarter-finals at the Mutua Madrid Open before withdrawing before his last-eight match against Novak Djokovic because of a lingering right wrist injury. The 27-year-old Nishikori fell to Juan Martin del Potro in the third round in Rome but reached the semi-finals last week in Geneva (l. to Mischa Zverev).
"After Madrid, Rome, [the wrist is] getting much better," said Nishikori. "Physically I'm feeling strong again, so I hope it's not coming back, because there is chance to come back inflamed again. So I try to take care all the time and hopefully will stay healthy."
[ALSO LIKE]
#NextGenATP Aussie Kokkinakis was making his first Grand Slam appearance since the 2015 US Open. He was going for his first Grand Slam win since two years ago at Roland Garros. The 6'5” 21 year old underwent surgery on his right shoulder in December 2015 and has played only two singles matches since then, including an opening loss last week in Lyon to Denis Istomin.
“It's been a frustrating time, but it's good to be back on the court. I felt pretty good out there, all things conidered. I felt like I had a good shot,” Kokkinakis said.
American John Isner, the No. 21 seed, clinched a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory against Australian Jordan Thompson in two hours and 37 minutes. Isner struck 31 aces and capitalised on all three of his break point opportunities to set a second-round meeting with Italian Paolo Lorenzi, a 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 winner over Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis.
"I think I played the break points I had today much better than I have in the past, really much better than I have this year, so I was happy about that... The thing I'm most proud about is just how I kept my head and stayed the course throughout the match and was eventually able to tough him out, but it was extremely difficult out there today," said Isner.
Isner has advanced to the Round of 16 in two of his past three Roland Garros appearances, falling to Tomas Berdych in 2014 and to Andy Murray in 2016. He broke new ground two weeks ago in Rome, where he knocked out a pair of Top 10 players, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, en route to his first clay ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final (l. to eventual champion Zverev).
"I'm fairly confident for sure," said the American. "This is easily the best I've felt all year. Confidence is very hard to gain and it's easy to lose in my opinion... When I just take the court and tell myself I'm going to go out swinging and I'm going to be happy with the result whether I win or lose, things tend to work out for me that way."
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.