By Chris Oddo | Sunday, January 17, 2016

 

Kei Nishikori raced out to a fast start against Philipp Kohlschreiber on Day 1, sealing a straight-sets victory in under two hours.

Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve

Kei Nishikori had what was considered to be one of the tougher first round matches on the men’s side in German Philipp Kohlschreiber. But the seventh seed made short work of his dangerous foe, and skittered into the second round with a confidence-inspiring 6-4 6-3 6-3 victory over the highest-ranked unseeded player in the men's draw.

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Nishikori didn’t face a single break point and throttled 35 winners against 21 unforced errors to book a second-round matchup with American Austin Krajicek.

“It’s great to finish [in] three sets, especially against Philipp,” Nishikori said. “It was not easy but I played some great tennis. My body feels good, everything was good on the court. I had a good preparation these two weeks."

Nishikori now owns a 17-6 career record in Melbourne. He reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal here in 2012, and duplicated the feat last season.

Other first-round winners on the ATP side in Melbourne were 19th-seeded Dominic Thiem, who eased past Leonardo Mayer in four sets, and 15th-seeded David Goffin, who ousted Sergiy Stakhovsky in four.

The first seed to be knocked out was 22nd-seeded Ivo Karlovic, who retired while trailing two sets to love to Federico Delbonis.