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5/25/10 5:48 AM | Ricky Dimon
Kei Nishikori recovers from a two-set deficit to advance past Santiago Giraldo on Monday at Roland Garros. Nishikori is joined in the second round by Marcos Baghdatis, a straight-set winner of Jesse Witten.
A Top 60 player when he was just 19 years old, Kei Nishikori won his first Grand Slam match since the 2008 U.S. Open on Monday at Roland Garros. And he did it in improbable fashion.
The oft-injured Japanese sensation, who missed almost all of 2009 and lost in the first round of this year's Australian Open, stormed back from two sets down to outlast Santiago Giraldo 2-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-4 in three hours and 26 minutes. In answering questions as whether or not he could play a five-set match, Nishikori booked a second-round showdown against Novak Djokovic.
Despite having momentum from two straight Challenger titles this month, Nishikori looked rusty on one of the sport's biggest stages and Giraldo seized a commanding lead. The 58th-ranked Colombian won the first two sets with ease and came within a matter of points of a straight-set victory. Nishikori, however, managed to force a tiebreaker at the end of the third frame of play and he took it seven points to theree.
From there it was all over for Giraldo, who seemed to be hampered by a thigh injury throughout the fourth and fifth sets. Nishikori lost only six games the rest of the way and he always had an answer even though his opponent continued to provide resistance until the very end. The world No. 246 finished with 46 winners and 32 unforced erros.
Marcos Baghdatis also reached the French Open second round on Monday, dismissing Jesse Witten 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Witten did well to qualify for the main draw, but the American was out of his league against Baghdatis. The 30th-ranked Cypriot needed just one hour and 46 minutes to set up a meeting with Marcel Granollers. Baghdatis broke serve six times and made only 13 unforced errors in the entire match.
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