Fifth seed Nishikori reaches third round at Indian Wells

© Reuters

Kei Nishikori (JPN) during his 2nd round match against Ryan Harrison  Japanese trailblazer Kei Nishikori recovered from an erratic start to book his place in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-4 6-4 victory over American Ryan Harrison on Saturday. Seeded fifth for the elite ATP Masters 1000 event, Nishikori broke his opponent five times while losing his own serve on three occasions on a hot afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden before sealing the win in just under an hour and a half. Nishikori, who became the first Asian male to reach a grand slam singles final with a storming run at the U.S. Open last year, had beaten Harrison in their only other meeting, in Memphis earlier this year. "It was a different situation (in Memphis), an indoor game," the 25-year-old Japanese, ranked fifth in the world, said courtside. "I knew it would be tough today, I knew he was playing good. "It was a bit up and down but I played well in the second set. I broke him many times and that was a key for the match." Nishikori, who lost to Marin Cilic in last year's U.S. Open final before ending a landmark season with four ATP World Tour titles, will next play Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who beat Australia's James Duckworth 6-2 7-6. In other matches, 10th-seeded Croatian Cilic, who has been troubled by a shoulder injury, was upset 6-4 6-4 by Argentine Juan Monaco while big-serving South African Kevin Anderson beat Federico Delbonis of Argentina 7-5 6-4. Later in the day, fourth-seeded Englishman Andy Murray was due to play Canadian Vasek Pospisil before Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic launches his bid for a fourth title at Indian Wells by taking on Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.