Clinical Zverev too strong for Pouille, moves into second round

World No 2 Alexander Zverev came through unscathed against French wildcard Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

The German put in an efficient and clean performance that was simply too clinical for Pouille – a former semi-finalist in Melbourne – despite a valiant effort from the Frenchman.

A single break of serve in each set was enough for Zverev to ease into the second round of the opening Grand Slam of the season. A semi-finalist last year in Melbourne, when he agonisingly let a two-set lead slip against Daniil Medvedev, the world No 2 will be hoping to go at least one step further this time around as he looks to finally win his maiden major title.

“Playing Lucas, he is somebody that – when he’s healthy – he’s definitely not the ranking that he is. I mean, he’s been in the semi-finals here before,” Zverev said in his on-court interview.

“He’s actually made the quarter-finals at least of every Grand Slam, which is something I haven’t even achieved so he’s definitely a great player.”

Hitting 18 aces and winning 78% of his first-serve points, Zverev will be satisfied with a solid, if not spectacular performance. It is one that leaves room for higher gears to be moved into as the tournament progresses, but Zverev remains very much in the pack of favourites for the title.

He will play Spaniard Pedro Martinez Portero next.

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

• Kasidit Samrej vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. Learner Tien
• Rinky Hijikata vs. Mitchell Krueger
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Corentin Moutet
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Andrey Rublev vs. Joao Fonseca
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Kamil Majchrzak
• Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima
• Gael Monfils vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
• Francisco Comesana vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Borna Coric vs. Cristian Garin
• Taylor Fritz vs. Jenson Brooksby
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Alex De Minaur
• Tristan Boyer vs. Federico Coria
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Zizou Bergs
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Alexander Bublik
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Karen Khachanov
• Gabriel Diallo vs. Luca Nardi
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Holger Rune
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Cameron Norrie
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Dusan Lajovic
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Flavio Cobolli
• Marcos Giron vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Jacob Fearnley vs. Nick Kyrgios
• Alexander Shevchenko vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Novak Djokovic vs. Nishesh Basavareddy
• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Juncheng Shang vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Tommy Paul
• Fabio Fognini vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• David Goffin vs. Benjamin Bonzi
• Jaime Faria vs. Pavel Kotov
• Sebastian Baez vs. Arthur Cazaux
• Lukas Klein vs. Sebastian Korda
• Damir Dzumhur vs. Aleksandar Vukic
• Jack Draper vs. Mariano Navone
• Yoshihito Nishioka vs. Aziz Dougaz
• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Roman Safiullin
• Tristan Schoolkate vs. Taro Daniel
• Jannik Sinner vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Jordan Thompson vs. Dominik Koepfer
• James Duckworth vs. Dominic Stricker
• Alexandre Muller vs. Nuno Borges
• Thiago Seyboth Wild vs. Fabian Marozsan
• James McCabe vs. Martin Landaluce
• Alejandro Tabilo vs. Roberto Carballes Baena
• Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. Jakub Mensik
• Arthur Rinderknech vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Alex Michelsen
• Adam Walton vs. Quentin Halys: sunday
• Gauthier Onclin vs. Reilly Opelka: sunday
• 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