Kei Nishikori is relishing his time back in Buenos Aires for the first time in five years. Guided by his coach, Dante Bottini, the Shimane native has done one of the most compulsory experiences that a visitor has to do: having a nice ‘asado’, an Argentian roast.

“This country is great and there are so many things that you can do. Yesterday I had a great steak. It was really tasty,” the No. 1 seed said.

“I am really excited to be back here. Dante has been helping me a lot, especially on clay courts, and for me it is very special to be here because he is from Argentina.”

It was Bottini’s idea for the then 17^th-ranked Nishikori to come to Buenos Aires in 2012. While so many people would see him as the perfect player for hard courts, his coach saw the possibilities on clay. He was right.

Over the past five seasons, Nishikori has been improving steadily on the clay as a consistent Top 10 player challenging the ‘Big Four’. He served notice on the clay with back-to-back titles in Barcelona (2014-2015), where he also played the final last year (l. to Nadal). And also in 2014, the Japanese player was runner-up at the ATP World Tour Mutua Madrid Open.

Nishikori returns to competition after losing to eventual Australian Open champion Roger Federer in the fourth round at Melbourne Park. “It was a tough loss”, Nishikori said.

“I learned many things after that match and I just tried to keep going, keep practising and just hoping to have a great result here. Would be great for my confidence.”

Despite the tough loss, it was not enough to keep him from watching the final. “It was a great match,” he said.

“It could have gone either way and both Rafa and Roger were playing great tennis. I am just happy to see them back in a final.”

Nishikori wants to build up his confidence. And with a scheduling change, now is the time to try the Buenos Aires-Rio de Janeiro swing.

“It’s a big change for me but I love playing on clay courts. I think it can be a good preparation for Europe,” he said. “I want to win these two tournaments.”

In a solid day for the home favourites on Monday, Federico Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer are through to the second round of the Argentina Open. Delbonis squared his FedEx Head2Head series at 1-1 with Frenchman Stephane Robert after a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 result in Buenos Aires, while wild card Mayer – in his first match of the season – prevailed against Portugal’s Gastao Elias 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Delbonis, the World No. 48 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, won his first match of 2017 with the straight-sets result against the 36-year-old. He awaits the winner of either his countryman Horacio Zeballos or Portugal’s Joao Sousa.

Former world No. 21 Mayer, whose 2016 season was disrupted by right shoulder problems, needed two hours and 14 minutes to get past Elias. He next meets either fifth-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas or compatriot Guido Pella.

In final-round qualifying results, Rogerio Dutra Silva, Alessandro Giannessi, Jozef Kovalik and Guido Andreozzi all won through to the main draw.

Damir Dzumhur notched his first ATP World Tour match win of the season on Monday after he felled former Memphis Open finalist Kevin Anderson in the first round. The unseeded Bosnian had fallen three times in his opening match in 2017 but eked out a 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over the South African.

World No. 86 Dzumhur rallied from a set and 1-3 down in the second set to seal the two-hour, 38-minute result. He booked a second-round meeting with either seventh seed Steve Darcis or Radu Albot.

“It’s really a big win, especially after some tough results the last few weeks,” Dzumhur said. “I lost last week in three sets to [Andreas] Seppi. In Australia, I lost in five sets to Viktor [Troicki].

“So I was playing good but I couldn’t find a way to win the match. After those losses, you lose a lot of confidence.

“This win means a lot really, especially because it was against [Kevin] Anderson, who was a former Top 10 player. It was a great match for me. I was fighting very well. I found that positive energy after losing a set and a break down to win the match.”

Anderson, who reached the final in his last Memphis appearance two years ago (l. to Nishikori), was playing his first match of the season after a hip injury. The 30-year-old South African was ranked as high as No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2015 before an injury-marred 2016 saw his ranking drop to No. 80.

Earlier, American Donald Young also fought back from a set and a 1-3 break down in the second set to upset No. 6 seed Adrian Mannarino 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(4). Young had two match points on serve at 5-4 in the third set before getting the job done in the tie-break on his fourth match point. Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka had a more routine 6-4, 6-4 win over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Former ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament champion Tomas Berdych started his quest for a second Rotterdam title on Monday with a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Marius Copil.

Berdych is making his 10^th appearance at the tournament. The No. 4 seed improved to a 17-7 record in Rotterdam, where he won the title in 2014 (d. Cilic) and reached the final in 2015 (l. Wawrinka).

Berdych had won their previous two meetings in straight sets but qualifier Copil provided a stern test. However, the world No. 130 couldn’t find a way to break, with three chances dismissed by the Czech’s heavy serve. Berdych will take on Viktor Troicki or Open Sud de France finalist Richard Gasquet in the second round.

Dutch wildcard Robin Haase beat Florian Mayer 7-5, 7-6(3). He struck 12 aces and won 82 per cent of first-serve points to edge into a match-up with either Garanti Koza Sofia Open finalist David Goffin or Andrey Kuznetsov.

Doubles specialist Pierre-Hugues Herbert prevailed over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5), 7-6(5). The Frenchman, seeded No. 1 in the doubles, qualified for the singles draw on Sunday by beating Botic Van de Zandschulp.