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The fifth seed, a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros last
year, had too much in his armory for 40th-ranked Kuznetsov on a
sun-bathed Court One, although Nishikori got off to a slow
start.
He dropped serve in the third game of the match but broke back
twice to take the opening set.
Kuznetsov's double-fault gave him a break in the fifth game of
the second set. He moved 5-2 ahead with some punishing ground
strokes, then dropped serve himself as he served for a two-set
lead.
That was only a minor inconvenience. Nishikori broke Kuznetsov's
serve in the next game with sweetly struck forehand winner.
Nishikori was well inside his comfort zone as he sealed the win
with sublime backhand.
Nishikori, whose only defeats on clay this year came in the
Barcelona final against Rafael Nadal and in Madrid and Rome
where he was stopped in the semis by Novak Djokovic, will face
Spain's Fernando Verdasco in the third round.
Verdasco crushed Croatia's Ivan Dodig.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Larry King)
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