Nishikori savours: "I doubted myself a lot".

Kei Nishikori secured an extremely valuable victory on Thursday.

Plunged into a period of insane loss of confidence, mainly due to a string of injuries, the Japanese is now getting his tennis back.

After winning just one match this season, Nishikori has now won two in a row. After painfully eliminating Michelsen in the first round (3-6, 7-5, 6-4), he followed this up with a major win over Tsitsipas on Thursday (6-4, 6-4).

After a brilliant match, the current 576th player in the world took full advantage of a Greek lacking in confidence and not yet well-versed on the surface.

Questioned in the press conference, the former world No. 4 made no secret of the fact that this victory was a real boost for him. All smiles, he declared: "Today (Thursday), I got off to a very good start compared to my first match.

There were times when I had to step up my efforts and refocus, but I did very well. I'm very happy to have beaten someone like him, someone I wasn't supposed to beat.

I've been doubting myself a lot, so this win and the way I played really help me over the next few months.

I'm going to play a few Challengers to build up my confidence and get more matches under my belt. My aim is to reach the Top 100 for next year."