Australian Open: Ailing Kyrgios beaten by Fearnley in Melbourne

Jacob Fearnley reached the second round of the Australian Open by beating Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (2) at Melbourne Park.

Appearing in his tournament debut, 92-ranked Fearnley was too strong for the Australian, who struggled throughout with an abdominal injury he suffered days before the start of the year’s opening Grand Slam.

Kyrgios looked a pace behind the 23-year-old Scot from the start. With his biggest weapon – a blistering first serve – severely blunted, Fearnley took his opportunity well by playing a clinical game in an impressive first appearance in Melbourne.

A tiebreak concluded a tight first set before a single break of serve was enough for the Briton to take the second. Fearnley then moved a break up before being pegged back by Kyrgios much to the raucous delight of the home crowd. But the Scot once again showed the gulf in class in the tiebreak as he cruised to an impressive straight-set win.

“I was extremely nervous before the match,” Fearnley told the crowd in his on-court interview.

“I didn’t get too much sleep. I knew it was going to be a rowdy match but I thought I played good. Sorry to Nick, I could tell that he was dealing with some stuff, but I thought it was a great match and I really enjoyed playing in front of you guys.

“I was just trying to focus on myself as much as I could. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get you guys on my side, so I just had to focus on myself, play my game and do the best that I could to move past every point.”

Fearnley, ranked No 92, will face Frenchman Arthur Cazaux next.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Andrey Rublev vs. Joao Fonseca
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Corentin Moutet
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Alex De Minaur
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Kamil Majchrzak
• Tristan Boyer vs. Federico Coria
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Flavio Cobolli
• Marcos Giron vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Rinky Hijikata vs. Mitchell Krueger
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima
• Kasidit Samrej vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Francisco Comesana vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Zizou Bergs
• Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. Learner Tien
• Gael Monfils vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
• Borna Coric vs. Cristian Garin
• Taylor Fritz vs. Jenson Brooksby
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Alexander Bublik
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Holger Rune
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Karen Khachanov
• Gabriel Diallo vs. Luca Nardi
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Cameron Norrie
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Dusan Lajovic
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Tommy Paul: monday
• Francesco Passaro (LL) beat Grigor Dimitrov (10): 7-5, 2-1 ret.
• David Goffin vs. Benjamin Bonzi: monday
• Novak Djokovic vs. Nishesh Basavareddy: monday
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-1, 7-5, 6-1
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Juncheng Shang: 7-6 (1), 5-2 ret.
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (29) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
• Jaime Faria (Q) beat Pavel Kotov: 6-1, 6-1, 7-5
• Sebastian Korda (22) beat Lukas Klein (Q): 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Yoshihito Nishioka beat Aziz Dougaz (Q): 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Arthur Cazaux beat Sebastian Baez (28): 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
• Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Roman Safiullin: 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Jack Draper (15) beat Mariano Navone: 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Aleksandar Vukic beat Damir Dzumhur: 6-7 (3), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Tristan Schoolkate (WC) beat Taro Daniel: 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-4
• Jordan Thompson (27) beat Dominik Koepfer (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Nicolas Jarry: 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-1
• James McCabe (WC) beat Martin Landaluce (Q): 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
• James Duckworth beat Dominic Stricker: 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
• Fabian Marozsan beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 5-7, 7-5
• Nuno Borges beat Alexandre Muller: 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2, 7-5
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Alejandro Tabilo (23): 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Jakub Mensik beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Q): 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3
• Frances Tiafoe (17) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 7-6 (2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Alex Michelsen beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (11): 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (2) beat Lucas Pouille (WC): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Quentin Halys beat Adam Walton: 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-5
• Reilly Opelka beat Gauthier Onclin (Q): 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (14) beat Matteo Gigante (Q): 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-4
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Luciano Darderi: 6-3, 4-1 ret.
• Tomas Machac (26) beat Sumit Nagal: 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
• Jiri Lehecka (24) beat Li Tu (WC): 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Hady Habib (Q) beat Yunchaokete Bu: 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Casper Ruud (6) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
• Kei Nishikori beat Thiago Monteiro (Q): 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Arthur Fils (20) beat Otto Virtanen: 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4
• Hugo Gaston beat Omar Jasika (WC): 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2