Kei Nishikori beaten by Benoit Paire, defending champion Marin Cilic advances

Updated 31/08/2015 at 22:43 GMT

Fourth seed Kei Nishikori's hopes of making another magical U.S. Open run came to a quick end on Monday as last year's runner-up fell at the first hurdle, falling 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6 (6) 6-4 to Frenchman Benoit Paire.

: Kei Nishikori of Japan reacts against Benoit Paire of France during their Men's Single First Round match on Day One of the 2015 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 31, 2015 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens bor

Image credit: AFP

The 26-year-old Paire, having collected his maiden ATP Tour title last month in Bastad, brought his good from to Flushing Meadows grinding out a three hour 14 minute victory to get the season's final grand slam off to a shocking start.

"It's always very sad to lose in the first round, but I think he was playing good tennis," said Nishikori. "I don't think I played badly. Didn't play great, but still, it's never easy first match."

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Japan's Nishikori, who turned in a marathon effort last year recording five set wins over Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinki and a four set victor over world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, had looked ready to survive the opening test coming back from a wobbly opening set.

But after the 41st ranked Paire won the tie-break he carried the momentum into the fifth set and recorded the decisive break to go up 3-2 before finishing off Nishikori with a thundering ace.

"I had match point and I kind of lost a little bit my forehand," said Nishikori. "I mean, tiebreak can go both ways so maybe I lost a little bit of concentration but he was hitting good serves, too.

"Especially the first couple games in the fifth set, I lost my concentration and he returned well, too. I mean, credit for him, too, playing good tennis with these conditions."

mean, credit for him, too, playing good tennis with these conditions."

A three-time winner on the ATP Tour this season, Nishikori arrived at Flushing Meadows as one of the favourites to capture the year's last grand slam.

After a sluggish start, the 25-year-old slowly found his rhythm taking the next two sets and then looked ready to advance after going up 6-4 in the tiebreak.

Paire, however, swept the next four points before letting out a mighty roar as the match went to a fifth set.

"To beat Nishikori for me, was impossible to imagine this," said Paire, who entered the match with an uninspiring 2-16 record against top-10 ranked opponents.

Marin Cilic made a strong start in defence of his US Open title by powering past Argentine qualifier Guido Pella 6-3 7-6(3) 7-6(3).

The ninth-seeded Cilic registered 13 aces and seven service winners in dismissing 94th-ranked Pella, who fought gamely and was broken only twice in the two-hour match at Louis Armstrong Stadium. "I think Guido played really, really good today," Cilic said in an on-court interview.

"He was causing me trouble with his serve. Today was a bit gusty so it was not easy to put my returns in, but I managed somehow and I was pretty happy with my serve."

US Open men's singles round 1 results

Benoit Paire (France) beat 4-Kei Nishikori (Japan) 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6(6) 6-4

14-David Goffin (Belgium) beat Simone Bolelli (Italy) 6-4 6-1 6-2

17-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Matthew Ebden (Australia) 6-4 6-2 6-4

18-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) 7-6(5) 6-1 6-3

19-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-3 6-1 6-1

25-Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat Tommy Paul (U.S.) 6-4 6-0 7-5

Mardy Fish (U.S.) beat Marco Cecchinato (Italy) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-1 6-3

Marsel Ilhan (Turkey) beat Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 6-0 2-6 6-4 3-2 (Stepanek retired)

Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) beat Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-3 6-3 3-0 (Lu Y H retired)

Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Tommy Haas (Germany) 3-6 6-1 6-7(3) 6-3 6-1

Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) beat Joao Sousa (Portugal) 6-2 6-2 4-6 2-6 7-6(4)