Australian Open: Nishikori saves two MPs to extend brilliant five-set record

Japanese Kei Nishikori reached the second round of the Australian Open, overcoming Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Sunday.

The victory was Nishikori’s fourth comeback from two sets to love down at the Australian Open, and fifth overall, with the veteran surviving two match points in the third set.

He extends his five-set record to 28-7 now, leading the ATP Tour with an 80 percent win rate when matches go the distance at Grand Slams. Since returning from injury, three of Nishikori’s four Grand Slam matches have been five-setters.

“Really tough one,” Nishikori said after the match. “I almost forgot he had two match points. I tried to stay calm even though I was almost out of the tournament. I just tried to focus on what I can do.

“I almost gave up. Match point… He was playing very good. First and second sets, he was on a roll. He almost deserved to win. But somehow, I fought back.”

Nishikori, ranked No 74, will play the winner of the match between Australian Christopher O’Connell and American Tommy Paul, the No 12 seed, next.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Kasidit Samrej vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. Learner Tien
• Rinky Hijikata vs. Mitchell Krueger
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Corentin Moutet
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Andrey Rublev vs. Joao Fonseca
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Kamil Majchrzak
• Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima
• Gael Monfils vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
• Borna Coric vs. Cristian Garin
• Taylor Fritz vs. Jenson Brooksby
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Alex De Minaur
• Tristan Boyer vs. Federico Coria
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Zizou Bergs
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Alexander Bublik
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Holger Rune
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Cameron Norrie
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Dusan Lajovic
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Flavio Cobolli
• Jacob Fearnley vs. Nick Kyrgios
• Alexander Shevchenko vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Novak Djokovic vs. Nishesh Basavareddy
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Tommy Paul
• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• David Goffin vs. Benjamin Bonzi
• Francisco Comesana vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Karen Khachanov
• Gabriel Diallo vs. Luca Nardi
• Marcos Giron vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Fabio Fognini vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Sebastian Baez vs. Arthur Cazaux
• Lukas Klein vs. Sebastian Korda
• Jack Draper vs. Mariano Navone
• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Roman Safiullin
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Tristan Schoolkate vs. Taro Daniel
• Jannik Sinner vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Jordan Thompson vs. Dominik Koepfer
• James Duckworth vs. Dominic Stricker
• Alexandre Muller vs. Nuno Borges
• Thiago Seyboth Wild vs. Fabian Marozsan
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Denis Shapovalov
• James McCabe vs. Martin Landaluce
• Alejandro Tabilo vs. Roberto Carballes Baena
• Juncheng Shang vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. Jakub Mensik
• Yoshihito Nishioka vs. Aziz Dougaz
• Damir Dzumhur vs. Aleksandar Vukic
• Jaime Faria vs. Pavel Kotov
• Arthur Rinderknech vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Alex Michelsen
• Lucas Pouille vs. Alexander Zverev
• Sumit Nagal vs. Tomas Machac
• Pedro Martinez Portero vs. Luciano Darderi
• Adam Walton vs. Quentin Halys
• Jiri Lehecka vs. Li Tu
• Gauthier Onclin vs. Reilly Opelka
• Ugo Humbert vs. Matteo Gigante
• Hady Habib vs. Yunchaokete Bu
• Casper Ruud vs. Jaume Munar: sunday
• Arthur Fils (20) beat Otto Virtanen: 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4
• Hugo Gaston vs. Omar Jasika