Nishikori Rome/Xinhua: Kei Nishikori of Japan secured his first win of the season as he labored to beat Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 7-6 (3) to reach the second round at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy, on Tuesday.
Nishikori needed six match points to seal the win in two hours at the ATP Masters event held behind closed doors at the Foro Italico.
15th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria eased past Italian wildcard Gianluca Mager 7-5, 6-1, while Marin Cilic rallied to beat Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4 to set up a second round meeting with sixth seed David Goffin.
Top seeds Novak Djokovic and defending champion Rafael Nadal, who have first round byes, will begin their campaigns on Wednesday.
In the women's draw, US Open quarterfinalist Elise Mertens of Belgium disposed of Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-1.
Italian wildcard Jasmine Paolini beat Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-3 to set up a second round clash with top seed Simona Halep of Romania.
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