Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori has eased through to the second round of the Australian Open with a straight-sets victory over Spanish veteran Nicolas Almagro.

Playing in his first major since his thrilling run to last year’s US Open final, the Japanese star proved too good for Almagro, winning 6-4 7-6 (7-1) 6-2.

He will play Croatian Ivan Dodig or Brazil’s Joao Souza in the second round.

Nishikori has advanced at least to the fourth round at each of the previous three Australian Opens and will fancy his chances of again going deep into the first grand slam event of the year.

It was also the first time since 2008 that Almagro had been beaten before the third round at Melbourne Park.

In other men’s action early on day two, 30th-seeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo belted Czech Jan Hernych 6-3 6-2 6-2 and American Steve Johnson eliminated British qualifier Kyle Edmund 6-4 6-4 6-3.