World No. 4 Kei Nishikori breezed into the third round at the Paris Masters on Wednesday, dispatching Viktor Troicki 6-2, 7-5.
"I won't say I was perfect but I'm glad I could wrap it up in two sets," said, Nishikori, who attempted to serve and volley much more than usual.
"This ball has been very hard to control, which makes stroke play hard and this is a way to apply pressure. I'm trying that (serve and volley), and the better my serves are, the easier they are to execute."
Exploiting a poor service game from the 28th-ranked Serb, Nishikori dominated the first set of a match that lasted just 1 hour, 14 minutes, although Troicki rebounded in the second set, winning some good points.
Nishikori kept his opponent in the match with several unforced errors that allowed Troicki to break in the sixth game and even the second set at 3-3. But Nishikori's returns and spin troubled the Serb, who made some critical errors en route to dropping his serve in the 11th game. Serving for the match, Nishikori reeled off four straight points to end it.
In the third round, Nishikori will face either Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas or France's Jo-Wilifried Tsonga, against whom he is 5-2 in his career.
"I want to build up a little more time on this court, get more used to the ball and play a little better tennis," Nishikori said. "From here on I'm going to face stronger and stronger opponents, so I'll do my best to play at a higher level."