Nishikori Spoils Kokkinakis' Return To Roland Garros

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.

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).

#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.

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.