Kei Nishikori of Japan hits a return to Robert Kendrick of the U.S. in their first round match at the Japan Open tennis tournament at Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo on Sept. 30. (Kyodo News photo)

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Rising Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori advanced to the men's
singles second round with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 victory over Robert Kendrick of the U.S. at the Japan Open on Sept. 30.

But former world No. 4 Kimiko Krumm-Date, who entered the tournament as a wild card, lost to sixth-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 6-1 at Ariake Tennis Forest Park in her first singles match on the WTA Tour in 12 years.

Nishikori and Kendrick never broke each other's serve in the first two sets and split the tiebreakers.

At 2-2 in the third set, the 18-year-old Japanese came up with a running forehand passing shot down the line to have two break points and converted on the second with a forehand return winner.

Nishikori held his serve in the next game without dropping a point to go up 4-2 and broke his big-serving opponent before serving out the match.

''I feel great and I'm relieved that I ended up a winner,'' Nishikori said. ''I continued to believe I could get a chance to break his serve at some point in the match. I knew I could not miss
it when I got it.''

Nishikori grabbed the spotlight when he became only the second Japanese to win a tournament on the top-tier ATP Tour at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships in February.

He made his Davis Cup debut in April and rose to a career-high 81st in the world rankings earlier this month.

''I give myself 70 to 80 points out of 100 for today's match," he said. "I served very well throughout the match and did not allow one service break. I also got a lot of support from the crowd. This is a once-in-a-year big event in front of Japanese fans, so I wanted to show my ability.''

In his Japan Open debut last year, Nishikori lost in the first round to Zack Fleishman of the U.S.

The 38-year-old Krumm-Date, who surprised the tennis world by coming out of retirement earlier this year and has won three non-WTA singles titles since then, lost her duel of groundstrokes against the 36th-ranked Israeli, who is 17 years her junior.

Krumm-Date showed superb court coverage but lacked consistency and made unforced errors throughout the match. She had her serve broken twice in the first set and three times in the second.

''I knew it would be tough to make up for the time I was away from the game, but I thought I was able to play better than expected in this first match back on the WTA Tour and at the same time I feel the sting of defeat,'' Krumm-Date said.

''Today's tennis is getting more powerful and quicker than in the past. I'm trying to adjust to it. I'll continue to take steps forward and see how much I can do.''

In other action on the second day of the weeklong event, Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, top seed in the women's draw, bounced back from a set down to beat Gisela Dulko of Argentina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova upset third-seeded Chinese Zheng Jie, a Wimbledon semifinalist, 6-1, 6-2. Fourth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko also made a first-round exit with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 loss to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.

Among other Japanese players in the men's draw, Croatia's Roko Karanusic outclassed Hiroki Kondo 6-2, 6-2. Bobby Reynolds of the U.S. downed Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-1.