Kei Nishikori must have learned his lesson. After playing a five-set opener in the Melbourne heat on Monday, the Japanese avoided such serious tension during his second-round match, dismissing Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in just over two hours on Wednesday at the Australian Open.
“It was a good match. Definitely much better than the first match. There were many up and downs in the second set and in the third set, too,” Nishikori said.
Nishikori saved six of nine break points faced and made Chardy work all match long on his serve. The fifth-seeded Nishikori converted seven of 18 break points against the 29-year-old Chardy, who was trying to reach the third round in Melbourne for the third time.
Nishikori moves through to the third round for the seventh consecutive year. But the 27-year-old Shimane native has bigger targets in mind for this Melbourne visit. Nishikori will try to improve on his best showing at the Australian Open, the quarter-finals in 2012, 2015, 2016. He will next play Lukas Lacko, who was a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victor over Dudi Sela.
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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played more efficiently than even Nishikori. The Frenchman, who reached the Melbourne final in 2008 (l. to Djokovic), spent one hour and 45 minutes on court during a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 rout against Serbian Dusan Lajovic.
The 31-year-old Tsonga crushed 39 winners to only 25 unforced errors. He's now reached the third round at Melbourne Park nine times. Tsonga will next meet American Jack Sock or #NextGenATP star Karen Khachanov.
“I'm playing well for the moment, so I will prepare for the next match and see how it goes,” Tsonga said. “But of course I'm confident because I played well the two first matches. I hope I will be able to play at this level or even better on the next round.”