NEW YORK (AP) — Tenth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan cruised to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory over American Wayne Odesnik in the first round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday, showing no apparent effects from a toe injury that hampered his preparations.
Still, Nishikori needed more than two hours to dispatch the 176th-ranked Odesnik, a grinding baseliner who earned a wild card into the U.S. Open, his first appearance in five years, after serving a yearlong ban for getting caught with human growth hormone.
The 24-year-old Nishikori, who has never made it past the fourth round in five previous U.S. Open appearances, suffered a severely infected right big toe in July, forcing him to miss tuneup events leading up Flushing Meadows.
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