Former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori won his first match since returning from a five-month injury layoff, beating Dennis Novikov 6-3, 6-3 in the first-round of the Challenger Tennis Championships of Dallas on Monday.
The 28-year-old needed just 1 hour and 6 minutes to eliminate the 214th-ranked American from the second-tier event, only a week after the same opponent upset him in his much-awaited return to the court.
This time, on an indoor hardcourt at the T Bar M Racquet Club, it was Nishikori who came out on top, the current world No. 27 showing glimpses of his old self after being granted a wild card for the Jan. 29-Feb. 3 tournament as the top seed.