After shocks were few and far between in early play Wednesday, with only Luca Vanni a real surprise departure, a number of seeds exited in the afternoon.
Lukas Lacko’s qualifying bid came to an end following a shock 6-4, 7-6 loss to Lorenzo Giustino, who is ranked at No. 261. It will be the first time since 2009 that Lacko will not feature in the main draw. Matteo Donati continued the theme of Italians causing shocks, as he accounted for Blaz Rola (27) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Renzo Olivo of Argentina is not renowned for his hard-court game, but the clay specialist produced an excellent win over Sweden’s Elias Ymer (25). Francis Tiafoe produced another shock, though perhaps not as large as the others given his status in the game already. He beat compatriot Jared Donaldson (21) 6-3, 6-3.
Aleksandr Nedovyesov pulled the third largest shock of the day, as he ended the hopes of Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan (7). Nedovyesov proved undeterred by losing the first set by a heavy scoreline, roaring back to secure the next two sets for the loss of the seven games, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Dennis Novak continued to help along the seeded exodus, as he accounted for the crowd-favourite Dustin Brown (15) 6-3, 6-3.
It could actually have been a much worse day for seeds, as another theme of close escapes joined that of shocks. No escape proved tighter than that of Kenny de Schepper’s (29), with the Frenchman forced to save two match points at four-five down in the second set, before eventually going on to win 6-7, 7-5, 6-0 against Bastian Trinker. Edouard Roger-Vasselin (11) made a slow start, but eventually recovered to win 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 against Zhe Li. Alejandro Gonzalez (24) may have been the seed in his match against Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen, but given his preference for clay, and Laaksonen’s good record on hard-courts, Gonzalez’s 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 win was excellent. Norbert Gombos (23) also edged Italy’s Roberto Marcora 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. Thomas Fabbiano (26) and Go Soeda (8) also endured three set matches in the heat in Melbourne.
Other Results:
Thomas Fabbiano (26) defs. Uladzimir Ignatik 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Niels Desein defs. Tsung-Hua Yang 6-4, 7-6.
Go Soeda (8) defs. Maximillian Marterer 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
Peter Gojowczyk defs Brydan Klein 7-5, 6-2.
Jozef Kovalik defs. Pedja Krstin 7-5, 6-1.
Marius Copil defs. Gianluca Naso 7-6, 6-4.
Jurgen Zopp defs. Somdev Devvarman 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Saketh Myneni defs. Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-1.
Radek Stepanek defs. Jan Satral 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Maxime Janvier defs. Maxime Chaval 6-3, 5-7, 15-13.
Yuchi Sugita (12) defs Ante Pavic 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
Karen Khachanov defs. Grega Zemlja 6-4, 7-5.
Aslan Karatsev defs. Franko Skugor 6-4, 6-4.
Jordi Samper-Montana defs. Germain Gigounon 6-1, 6-2.
Alejandro Falla (4) defs. Daniel Nguyen 6-1, 6-4
Marco Chuidinelli defs. Mitchell Kreuger 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Daniel Brands (30) defeats Laslo Djere 6-4, 6-4.
Aldin Setkic defs. Federico Gaio 6-3, 6-4.
Oliver Anderson defs. Gavin Van Peperzeel 6-4, 6-3.
Tennys Sandgren defs. Yasuta Uchiyama 6-1, 6-3.
Konstantin Krachuk (18) defeats Andrey Golubev 6-7, 7-6 6-2.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert defs. (20) Gastao Elias 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.
