Germany’s Alexander Zverev overcame some early frustration to struggle again and beat American Marcos Giron in 4 units on day one of many Australian Open.
The sixth seed destroyed a racquet after failing to serve out the second set to stage, however took the tie-break and received 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-2.
French tenth seed Gael Monfils broke into tears after being on the receiving finish of the largest shock to date.
Monfils, 34, misplaced in 5 units to 21-year-old Emi Ruusuvuori of Finland.
“I misplaced, I’ve zero confidence, I performed badly,” mentioned Monfils, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist.
“I do know that I’ve misplaced so much and it hurts me. I wish to get up and inform myself that this nightmare is over, however I do not know when it would cease.”
Austrian third seed Dominic Thiem, final yr’s overwhelmed finalist, began his bid to go a step higher with a comparatively simple win over Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.
US Open champion Thiem wanted a tie-break to clinch the opening set earlier than taking management to win 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-3.
Swiss seventeenth seed Stan Wawrinka, who received the title in 2014, made mild work of Portugal’s Pedro Sousa, successful 6-3 6-2 6-4 in a single hour and 36 minutes.
Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic additionally raced by way of his opening match, beating Argentina’s Federico Coria in a 6-3 6-3 6-2 victory that was one minute quicker than Wawrinka’s.
