Japan`s Nishikori into Wimbledon second round

London: Japanese 10th seed Kei Nishikori won through to the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday with a straight sets win over France`s Kenny de Schepper.

The 24-year-old, who has never been past the third round at the All England Club, won 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in an hour and 49 minutes in front of dozens of appreciative Japanese fans on the Court 12 show court. The highest-ranked Japanese man in history blew his first match point but got another after De Schepper double-faulted, and then won it when the world number 73 shot wide. Though De Schepper hit 20 aces to Nishikori`s eight, the Japanese played a tidier match, making just nine unforced errors to the Frenchman`s 31. Coached by 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang, Nishikori has won at Barcelona and Memphis this year, the first time he has won multiple titles in a season. Nishikori will face either Marsel Ilhan of Turkey or Denis Kudla of the United States in the second round. Elsewhere on Tuesday, Japanese qualifier Tatsuma Ito plays lucky loser Simone Bolelli of Italy. Japan`s Yuichi Sugita, also a qualifier, plays Spanish 19th seed Feliciano Lopez. In the women`s draw, Kurumi Nara faces a second-round clash with five-time champion Venus Williams on Wednesday. Misaki Doi made it through to a round two clash with Russian 22nd seed Ekatarina Makarova, who knocked out Kimiko Date-Krumm.