Brisbane, Australia (Sports Network) - Rising Japanese star Kei Nishikori
highlighted Monday's opening-round winners, as the 2013 ATP World Tour season
kicked off at the Brisbane International tennis event.
The fifth-seeded Nishikori, who turned 23 on Saturday, handled top Aussie
Marinko Matosevic 7-5, 6-2 on the hardcourts at Queensland Tennis Centre.
Also on Day 1, sixth-seeded German Florian Mayer topped Colombian Santiago
Giraldo 6-4, 6-4, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis beat Aussie wild card Benjamin
Mitchell 6-4, 6-4, and Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen held off Frenchman
Julien Benneteau 6-3, 2-6, 6-1. Nieminen was a finalist here in 2008.
On Tuesday, wild card and Aussie hero Lleyton Hewitt will meet Czech veteran
Radek Stepanek, the 2009 Brisbane titlist and 2010 runner-up.
This tournament serves as a tune-up for the Australian Open, which will
commence January 14. U.S. Open and Olympic champion Andy Murray
beat Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in last year's finale. Murray is this
week's top seed.
The Sports Network