Kei Nishikori lost to former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Monday in a tight two-setter in the first round of the Madrid Open, going down 7-5, 6-4.
Nishikori, ranked 20th in the world, fought hard to avoid an 11th straight defeat against the 10th-seeded Djokovic in his opening match in the clay-court tournament staged at the Caja Magica, but it was Djokovic who came out the winner.
It was Djokovic's first victory over a top-20 opponent in almost a year. The Serbian has been having ongoing elbow problems and came off a six-month layoff in January.