It was big first round in Maui as a number of seeds tumbled in the opening days of play.
Top seed Jared Donaldson took the first set against fellow American Alexander Sarkissian, but then lost the next two sets to crash out at the first hurdle 57 75 75. Donaldson had led by two sets against Rogerio Dutra Silva in the first round of the Australian Open, but then lost in five. He repeated the trick in the best-of-three battle with Sarkissian.
Donaldson was not the only seed to fall at the earliest stage, as third seed Yuichi Sugita fell to Tennys Sandgren 64 64. Sandgren saved two of the three break points he faced, and broke the Japanese player three times for a straight sets win.
Austin Krajicek added fifth seed Marco Chiudinelli to the list of casualties. Krajicek is looking for some form after a dreadful 2016, and the American edged a tight encounter 64 57 76.
Sixth seed Ernesto Escobedo may have qualified for the Australian Open and taken a set off David Ferrer in the second round, but the young American was given a stark reminder of how tough the everyday grind is, as he was thrashed 61 61 by Go Soeda.
In contrast, Michael Mmoh put his Australian Open first round defeat firmly behind him, as the American came from behind impressively to beat eighth seeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil 36 64 63.
The second seed Hyeon Chung enjoyed one of the easiest matches, defeating Dennis Novikov 63 62. He was joined by seventh seed Henri Laaksonen who beat Czech wildcard Filip Dolezel 62 60. Fourth seed Taro Daniel was the only other seed to avoid an early upset, defeating qualifier Roberto Quiroz 63 64.
Though unseeded, Noah Rubin is a little more well-known these days after playing against Roger Federer in the second round of the Australian Open. Like Escobedo though, he suffered an Australian Open hangover, losing to Ze Zhang of China 64 62.
Other results saw Bradley Klahn come from behind to beat Tatsuma Ito 57 63 63. Tommy Paul slide down the rankings last year, but he made it into this event as the last direct acceptance. He defeated defending champion Di Wu 62 63.
Junior Wimbledon champion Denis Shapovalov, who surprisingly did not feature in the Australian Open, lost to qualifier Kento Takeuchi 76 36 76. Britain’s Cameron Norrie kept improving his Challenger credentials by defeating Ireland’s James McGee 46 63 64.
Mackenzie McDonald and Mitchell Krueger will also feature in the second round after they both secured wins.
