Video: Amid brutal five-set match, Kei Nishikori smacks incredible forehand

Kei Nishikori beat Marinko Matosevic in a grueling five-set match. (Mal Fairclough/AFP/Getty Images) MELBOURNE, Australia -- With temperatures hitting 107

Courtney Nguyen|

Kei Nishikori beat Marinko Matosevic in a grueling five-set match. (Mal Fairclough/AFP/Getty Images)

MELBOURNE, Australia -- With temperatures hitting 107 degrees on Tuesday, few matches lasted the full five sets. But, unfortunately for Kei Nishikori, his did.

With new adviser Michael Chang sitting in his box, the No. 16 seed toiled for three hours and 41 minutes in triple-digit heat before finally beating Australia's Marinko Matosevic 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Nishikori has had problems in the heat before, but despite the thermometer readings he said the conditions weren't that bad. "Brisbane was much tougher," Nishikori said. "It was no wind and humidity was high. Here it's [windy] and it's dry, so it wasn't too bad, actually."

The heat definitely didn't slow down the Japanese speedster. Check out this scrambling passing shot.

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Published Jan 14, 2014 | Modified Jan 14, 2014

COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.

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