Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 9 August 2016 | tennis.com.au

John Millman has bowed out to Kei Nishikori in the Olympic Tennis Event at Rio 2016.

The Australian held leads at several stages of the match but eventually went down 7-6(4) 6-4 to the No.4 seed on Centre Court on Monday night.

“That’s what makes those good players really tough, they’re tough to put away,” Millman said.

“In that tiebreaker Kei played seven unbelievable points so it was tough out there, it was disappointing.

“But I left it all out there and can be happy with that.”

Millman, playing intense, relentless tennis from the baseline, raced to a 5-2 lead against the shell-shocked Nishikori, who sprayed several errors.

Yet when Millman fluffed an overhead that would have earned him set point in the eighth game, Nishikori was given new life.

The world No.7 levelled the set at 5-5, yet Millman showed great resolve to shrug off the disappointment, holding for 6-5.

In the ensuing tiebreak the Aussie appeared certain to take the first set when he pushed out to a 4-0 lead.

But as he got increasingly tight, Nishikori reeled off seven straight points to pocket the opener.

In the second set, Millman again made the first move, breaking serve in the fifth game and at one stage leading 4-2.

That was the last game he would win.

Nishikori in the third round will face Slovakia’s Andrej Martin.