MONTREAL (AP) — Kei Nishikori earned his first victory at an ATP Masters 1000 event in three years, beating Alex Michelsen 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the National Bank Open on Tuesday.

The Japanese player, the 2014 US Open runner-up, has struggled with injuries in recent years and has not won a match at the Masters 1000 event, the level below the four Grand Slam tournaments, since Indian Wells in 2021. He was a finalist at the Canadian tournament in 2016, losing to Novak Djokovic.

Nishikori will face eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the next round.

Another former finalist who has been plagued by injuries at Grand Slam tournaments was forced to withdraw from the tournament after Canada’s Milos Raonic withdrew from his first-round match against 13th seed Holger Rune due to a shoulder injury.

“I tried to warm up for my match today and the most difficult thing was the serve. I don’t think I can be competitive at all,” said Raonic, who has been feeling pain in his shoulder for the past 48 hours.

“There have been many moments in my career where I haven’t been able to play, but I would say this is probably the hardest. I haven’t played here in five years and I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to Montreal.”

Rune defeated Roberto Bautista Agut, who had lost to him in the last round of the qualifiers, with sets of 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Defending 2022 tournament champion Pablo Carreño Busta beat Fabian Marozsan 6-7(8), 7-6(6), 6-3 for his first ATP Tour victory since the first round of the 2023 Australian Open. The Spaniard has been sidelined for 15 months due to an elbow injury.

Other first-round winners included No. 16 seed Karen Khachanov and Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis