Kei Nishikori admits the pressure of living up to his billing as world No.5 on the big stage of the Australian Open may have got to him.

Nishikori bowed out after losing his quarter-final to defending champion Stan Wawrinka on Rod Laver Arena 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6).

The Japanese superstar, who is accompanied by a massive media throng, said pre-match that he didn’t yet feel he comfortable as a top five player.

He said that he struggled to recover from a poor start against the big-serving Swiss, and put that down to pressure.

Nishikori’s status soared after becoming the first man from an Asian country to reach a grand slam final, losing to Marin Cilic in last year’s US Open.

En-route he upset world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

“In the first couple games I was missing so much, so many unforced errors and I was going for too much.

“I felt a little bit of pressure.”

The 25-year-old said he started to feel more comfortable in the third set but despite saving five match points in the tiebreaker, couldn’t get ahead.

The result was revenge after Nishikori eliminated Wawrinka in a memorable quarter-final 3-6 7-5 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (7-5) 6-4 at Flushing Meadows.

Coached by former French Open champion Michael Chang, who was courtside at Melbourne Park this week, Nishikori said the experience of another high-stakes match would be an advantage.

Apart from last year’s US Open decider, his previous best grand slam result was the quarter-finals at the 2012 Australian Open.

“It wasn’t a really bad week,” Nishikori said.

“It’s not easy to come by, grand slam quarter-finals.

“I think I need these kind of these experience, playing tough all the time and playing a lot of matches.”