Completing a win over Radek Stepanek, bubbly as ever at 37, on Tuesday despite being two points from defeat at one point, Murray was supposed to have a simpler task on Wednesday against the little-known French wildcard.
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For instance, in the first set, Daniel held two set points in a tiebreaker at 6-4.
Nishikori, who is fancied for a long run here, saw Spanish opponent Fernando Verdasco fight back from two sets down to level the match but it was the Japanese player who prevailed 6-3 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-4.
He explained after the match: “Especially at the end, it was very close in the third set”.
The British number one lost eight consecutive games to drop the second and then the third sets to the inspired 22-year-old Grand Slam debutant.
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Murray’s opponent in the third round, Ivo Karlovic, was involved in the day’s other compelling drama.
“But I managed to get it back a little bit at the end”. In 2004, Gaston Gaudio was pushed to the limit in his first two matches before winning the French Open championship.
Breaking twice in succession to open the match, Murray made quick work of Karlovic, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (3) and gave himself more time to recover ahead of what could be a grueling second week. He’s going to have a fantastic future.
They have never met on clay, so today’s meeting on the red stuff at Roland Garros should allow him a little more time to get a racquet on the Karlovic serve.
Murray won’t make it to that point if his form from the first two rounds creeps back in, but assuming he continues to play like he did against Karlovic Friday, he has a legitimate chance to vie for his first title at Roland Garros.
The Briton will face another tall order on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals, though, with John Isner up next following the American’s victory over Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Break opportunities were becoming rarer and Karlovic saved two of them in the fifth game of the third set, and it moved inexorably on towards a tiebreak.
The good news for Murray, who posted a picture of a “Get out of jail free” card from Monopoly on his Facebook page, is there are unlikely to be too many long rallies against 6ft 11in Karlovic.
“Losing against Murray is what I was expecting, so I wasn’t really that tense”, Bourgue said. Karlovic has broken serve just 3% of the time on tour this year.
Murray showed he still has a good relationship with Mauresmo when he was interviewed by his former coach on French TV after his laboured second round win over Mathias Bourgue.
Karlovic’s height did not stop Murray using the lob from time to time, though not as frequently as he did so memorably when beating the Croatian at Wimbledon last summer.
“The return has normally been the strongest part of my game but against Ivo it’s not always down to you”, Murray said after the match.
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The world number 28 was given a let-off when Murray was unable to put away a forehand pass for a 4-1 lead after earning two break points, but the favourite was soon sitting down with a two-set lead.
