MELBOURNE —
Japan’s Kei Nishikori reached the Australian Open fourth round with a convincing, straight-sets win over Lukas Lacko on Friday night.
The fifth seed made it to the last 16 for the sixth straight year with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Slovak qualifier in two hours, 11 minutes.
Nishikori will next face his first big challenge against either 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer or big-serving Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych.
The Japanese is looking to improve on his three quarterfinal appearances at the Australian Open, losing to Andy Murray in 2012, Stan Wawrinka in 2015 and Novak Djokovic last year.
“There were some little tough moments, but I stayed tough in the third set,” Nishikori said.
