Olympic bronze medallist Kei Nishikori has admitted he will need to find a way to beat both Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic if he is to finally win a Grand Slam crown.

The world number five had to overcome a minor scare in his first round match at the Australian Open as he required five sets to see off Russian Andrey Kuznetsov.

However, he looked much more comfortable as he saw off Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in straight sets in Wednesday’s round two clash.

The 27-year-old will now take on world number 121 Lukas Lacko on Friday for a place in the third round.

Nishikori, who is priced at 34.00 to win the 2017 Wimbledon title, is yet to lift a Grand Slam title but went extremely close when he was a beaten finalist at the 2014 US Open.

The Florida resident is hoping to finally taste Grand Slam glory in 2017 but he knows it will require him to beat the top-two ranked players in the world.

Murray and Djokovic boast a combined 19-4 win-loss record over Nishikori but he is hopeful of causing an upset in Melbourne.

Nishikori said: “Those two guys are still dominating the tour, like you saw last year.

“But I hope I can sneak in there – to beat Andy and Novak.

“I mean, if I wanted to win a grand slam or Masters (event), I have to beat those two guys.”