MELBOURNE: Japan's fifth seed Kei Nishikori was taken to four sets by Croatia's Ivan Dodig as he dug deep to reach the third round at the Australian Open on Thursday.
US Open finalist Nishikori won 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/0) in 2hr 47min and will now play American Steve Johnson.
Nishikori said he felt like he was playing at home with a noisy pro-Japanese crowd urging him on inside Hisense Arena in hot and humid conditions.
The Japanese star broke the 86th-ranked Dodig five times, the last time when the Croat was serving to take the match into a fifth set.
Nishikori forced a fourth-set tiebreaker and romped through it without dropping a point to clinch victory, hitting 52 winners and making only 26 unforced errors over the four sets.
"It was very warm conditions today and he was playing really well, very aggressive, good returns and it was a tough battle," Nishikori said.
"It was very close and it could have gone five sets.
"It's been a good two matches here and I'm feeling really well so hopefully I can win here over the next two weeks. I felt like I was in Japan such was the crowd's support today and I was very happy to be playing on this court."
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