Kei Nishikori – Photo Credit: Flickr

Japan’s Kei Nishikori battled fatigue and disappointment after an Olympic quarter-final loss. He defeated American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-3 on Monday to advance at the ATP Citi Open.

Nishikori, the 2016 Rio Olympic singles bronze medalist, became the first man to reach three consecutive Olympic quarter-finals before falling to top-ranked Novak Djokovic in Tokyo. Nishikori rebounded by flying to Washington and won the first night match at the US Open hardcourt tuneup event.

The 2015 Washington champion faces ninth seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the second round. The winner could get a chance to meet top seed Rafael Nadal in a quarter-final. Nishikori who ranked 67th, broke in the ninth game and held again when 68th-ranked Querrey sent a backhand long to capture the first set in 40 minutes.

In the second set, Nishikori denied Querrey on five break points to hold for 3-3, then broke twice for the victory. He became a backhand return winner after 86 minutes.

Nishikori seized a 7-4 edge in the career rivalry with his sixth win in seven matches, a run that began with a 2014 Washington victory. He was a 12-time ATP champion, won his only title in the past five years at Brisbane in 2019 while US 20-year-old Jenson Brooksby ousted 75th-ranked Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in a rematch of last month’s Newport final.

Meanwhile, Querrey, 33, reached his first ATP final in two years at Mallorca in June. He lost to Daniil Medvedev of Russia, but is on a five-match losing streak.