Japan’s Kei Nishikori wins in 4 sets

MELBOURNE: Japan's Kei Nishikori eased doubts over a knee injury as beat Romania's Victor Hanescu in four sets on Monday at the Australian Open.

A left knee injury forced the 16th seed out of this month's Brisbane International and Kooyong Classic tournaments but he showed little discomfort in surging home 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 against the 63rd-ranked Hanescu.

Nishikori, 23, Asia's big hope in the men's draw, recovered from dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker to take the match in 2hr 39min and will face Argentina's Carlos Berlocq in the next round.

Nishikori reached the quarter-finals at last year's Australian Open, the best-ever Grand Slam performance by a Japanese man.

French 32nd seed Julien Benneteau, Austrian seed Jurgen Meltzer, Swiss 15th seed Stanislas Wawrinka and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco were other opening day winners. (AFP)