Kei Nishikori has progressed to the second round of the Australian Open with a comfortable victory over Victor Hanescu.
The 23-year-old Japanese got the better of his Romanian opponent in four sets on court 6, winning their first-round clash 6-7(5) 6-3 6-1 6-3.
Nishikori lost the first set 7-6(5) in 51 minutes, but won the following three sets in less than two hours.
The world number 18 struggled with his fitness during the match and was forced to call out the ATP trainer to work on his left knee and quadriceps during the third set when he was leading 3-0.
However, Nishikori soon recovered to win the set 6-1 before breaking Hanescu's service in the eighth game to pull ahead 5-3 in the fourth set.
Nishikori then held his serve to proceed to the second round, where he will take on either Maxime Authom or Carlos Berlocq.
Subhankar Mondal
