ATP Kuala Lumpur: Kei Nishikori vs. Philipp Petzschner

Kei Nishikori takes on Germany's Philipp Petzschner in the second round of the Malaysian Open.

Nishikori is seeded eighth this week and he toughed out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 first round win over Russian qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili in the opening round. Currently ranked 54 in the world, the Japanese star did not have a particularly successful summer, having to retire in the opening round of the US Open but he's currently high of confidence after leading his country back into the Davis Cup World Group with a playoff win over India.

27 year old Petzschner has enjoyed most of his success on the doubles circuit where he's won Wimbledon and US Open titles in partnership with Jurgen Melzer but on his day he can be very dangerous on the singles court and he reached the Halle final in June. He started with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Germany's Mischa Zverev.

"I started really well, I had a break point for 5-0 in the first set and didn't take it," Petzschner mused. "Then I played a terrible game at 4-2 and all of a sudden it's close again. But I played a solid end of first set and then as well in the second set, without facing any break points. It's great to get through the first match. The tournament is really nice. Some of the European players are having problems with the jet lag a little bit, but I'm really happy with my performance on court today."