Nishikori beats wasteful Chardy to advance to third round

MELBOURNE ( Reuters) - Kei Nishikori shook off the effects of a tough five-set victory in the opening round and took advantage of Jeremy Chardy's inconsistent service game to advance to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Nishikori beat Chardy 6-3 6-4 6-3 on Hisense Arena as the Frenchman wasted several opportunities to deliver a real challenge to the fifth seed.

Chardy, who beat Nicolas Almagro in the first round when the Spaniard retired after four games, broke the Japanese three times in the match, only to broken right back. He also blew several rallies he had control of.

Nishikori had needed three hours, 34 minutes to wear down Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov in the first round but was far more consistent on Wednesday, breaking the 29-year-old Chardy seven times to take the win in two hours, seven minutes.

(Writing by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Peter Rutherford)