Japan Open: Brandon Nakashima cruises past Shintaro Mochizuki in the opening round of Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships

Brandon Nakashima is an American, but his father is of Japanese descent. He continued his winning way after winning the title at San Diego Open last month by beating Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 6-2 on the outdoor hardcourts in Tokyo.

Shintaro Mochizuki made a strong start against the higher-ranked American. Both players were equally matched until 3-3 in the opening set, but Brandon Nakashima upped his game to win nine of the final 11 games to ensure his victory.

Brandon Nakashima served six aces, won 85% of the points on the first serve and broke the serve of Shintaro Mochizuki three times from five opportunities. In contrast, the 19-year-old Japanese served one ace, won 62% of the points on the first serve and committed two double faults.

After the victory, Brandon Nakashima said, "Any time I'm serving well, it affects all the other parts of my game. I'm happy that I served you well today. Coming here, it's far away from where I last played and I'm still kind of getting used to the conditions out here and everything. But I'm happy with my level today. Hopefully, I'll be able to have a really good week here."

Shintaro Mochizuki enjoyed the experience despite losing the match at the ATP 500 event. The 19-year-old Japanese was playing at his third ATP Tour event and sixth tour-level match of the season.

Shintaro Mochizuki said, "The last tournament I played in Japan was when I was 12 or 13, so it's been five or six years since I played here. It was very nice."

Brandon Nakashima will next lock horns with the winner of the first-round clash between Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia or no. 9 seed Borna Coric of Croatia.

Frances Tiafoe beats Japanese wild card Yasutaka Uchiyama to book a second-round spot

Frances Tiafoe continued with the winning ways that helped team World win the prestigious Laver Cup by beating Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the second round.

The 24-year-old American served eight aces served 73% of the points on the first serve and broke the serve of his Japanese opponent two times from six opportunities to secure his victory after one hour and 14 minutes of play.

Frances Tiafoe will next face Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain in the second round of the Japan Open on October 5.