Japan Open: Nishikori cruises into quarter-final

Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori has entered the quarter-final of the ongoing Japan Open after defeating Frenchman Benoit Paire in the second round of the men's singles event here on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old registered a convincing 6-3, 7-5 victory over his French counterpart in a pre-quarters clash that lasted one hour and 28 minutes.

After easily getting past Paire in the first set, Nishikori had to battle hard as his opponent maintained a healthy 3-0 lead in the second set. But showing some resilient form of tennis the Japanese player went on to clinch the set 7-5.

In other matches, Alex de Minaur of Australia entered the second round of the tournament after beating Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-7(1), 7-6(5), 6-2 in their round-of-32 clash.