Daniil Medvedev launched his bid for a maiden Australian Open title on Tuesday with a 6-1 6-4 7-6(3) romp over Swiss battler Henri Laaksonen.
US Open champion Medvedev, favourite to win at Melbourne Park in the wake of Novak Djokovic’s deportation, was in cruise control for two sets against world number 91 Laaksonen before being dragged into a proper dog-fight in the third set.
Finland-born Laaksonen produced scintillating tennis to keep in touch with Medvedev in the tiebreak before faltering with a pair of unforced errors that gave the Russian three match points.
Medvedev sealed the win on the first of them and will play the winner of Nick Kyrgios and Liam Broady for a place in the third round.
Norway’s Ruud pulls out of Australian Open with ankle injury
World number eight Casper Ruud withdrew from the Australian Open on Tuesday, just hours before his first match at the year’s opening Grand Slam, after sustaining an ankle injury in practice.
‘Lucky loser’ Roman Safiullin replaced the Norwegian in the draw and will take on Slovak Alex Molcan later on Tuesday.
“Two days ago in practice I rolled or twisted my ankle,” said Ruud. “I tried everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately I’ve decided that I’m not 100% and I will not be able to play like I have to, to compete at this level.”
“I tried to play a little bit yesterday and today to see how it feels. Unfortunately there were no improvements today … The plan is obviously to rest.”
Ruud reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park last year before retiring with an abdominal injury against Andrey Rublev.
The 23-year-old’s absence will open up his quarter of the draw, with 11th seed Jannik Sinner of Italy favourite to reach the quarter-finals while Andy Murray, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Alex De Minaur will also see an opportunity to go deeper.
Ruud’s withdrawal means the men’s draw lost two of the top eight seeds before they played a match.
US Open finalist Fernandez bundled out by Australian wildcard Inglis
US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez lost 6-4 6-2 to local wildcard Madison Inglis at the Australian Open on Tuesday to continue her run of first-round exits at Melbourne Park.
Fernandez had exited the hardcourt major without a win in her two previous appearances but the world number 24 would have hoped to get past the first obstacle this time around against her 133rd ranked opponent whom she beat in both prior meetings.
But Inglis seized the advantage with a break in the seventh game to take the opening set and then opened up a 4-0 lead in the second with a double break.
The 19-year-old Canadian, who accumulated 30 unforced errors, had two of her three breakpoint opportunities in the sixth game of the second set but failed to convert as Inglis stayed solid to secure victory on her third match point.
It was the first Grand Slam main draw win at the fifth attempt for the 24-year-old from Perth.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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