Novak Djokovic notched an encouraging win in his comeback from an elbow injury when he beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 7-5 6-4 in the first round of the Madrid Open.

Djokovic broke serve late in each set to get past the world No.20 Nishikori after nearly two hours.

The 12-time grand slam winner hasn’t made it to the quarter-finals in his previous five tournaments this year, and had admitted he returned to tennis too quickly.

The Serbian former world No.1 was aggressive from the start, hitting 26 winners.

“The draw was such that we had to face in the first round, which is a bit strange,” Djokovic said. “But it was a good opening match.”

Milos Raonic defeated Nicolas Kicker 6-3 6-2 to set up a second-round encounter with third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.

France’s Richard Gasquet beat Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-2 to advance to play qualifier Dusan Lajovic, who got past Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-2.

In a first-round match between Frenchmen, Benoit Paire hit 39 winners to defeat 18th-ranked Lucas Pouille 6-2 6-3, advancing to face 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov of Canada, who got past Tennys Sandgren of the US 6-1 6-4.