Kei-Nishikori

Seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori held on to defeat American Bradley Klahn in the second round of the U.S. Open 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Nishikori, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2014, relied on his strong baseline retrieving game against the hard-serving Klahn, a former NCAA champion at Stanford. But Nishikori appeared to struggle at times, getting only half his first serves in and throwing in a double fault on a break point to help Klahn come back from 5-1 down to tie the fourth set.

Down the stretch, Nishikori let four match points slip away before finally closing out the match and avoiding the kind of upset that has so far felled half of the top 12 men’s seeds.

Nishikori advances to play the winner of No. 31 Cristian Garin and Alex de Minaur.

On the women’s side, third-seeded Karolina Pliskova easily advanced, dispatching her second-round opponent in a little over an hour.

Unlike top seed Naomi Osaka and No. 2 Ash Barty, who have been pushed to three sets, Pliskova rolled over qualifier Mariam Bolkvadze 6-1, 6-4, and has yet to drop a set.

Pliskova, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2016, served extremely well, blasting nine aces and winning 90% of her first-serve points.

Hers was the first match of this year’s tournament played under the roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium because of a light rain that’s been falling all day.