Tennis-Another Nishikori comeback ends in early Miami exit

Oct 9, 2021; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Kei Nishikori (JPN) hits a shot during his second round match against Daniel Evans (GER) during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

MIAMI (Reuters) -Kei Nishikori's return to competitive tennis suffered an early blow on Thursday when the former-Miami Open finalist was swept out of the opening round 6-3 6-4 by Austrian Sebastian Ofner.

Seeing his first action since last July and playing his first Masters 1000 event in nearly three years, the injury prone Nishikori was unable to produce the energetic form that took him to the 2014 U.S. Open final and number four in the world rankings.