Cologne, Germany , 13 October 2020 | Leigh Rogers

Three Australians – John Millman, Jordan Thompson and Marc Polmans – have lost their opening round matches in Cologne.

Millman won only two of eight break point opportunities in his clash with local wildcard Mischa Zverev. It proved costly, with Zverev closing out a 6-1 6-4 win at the ATP 250 indoor hard court event in Germany.

Zverev next faces sixth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz, who scored a 6-2 7-5 win against Polmans.

The No.31-ranked Polish player was forced to fight hard against the No.116-ranked Australian, recovering from a 1-5 deficit in the second set.

“Marc is a really good player. He started the second set well,” Hurkacz told ATPTour.com.

“I was trying to come in a little bit more, especially when it was 1-5. I tried to risk a bit more and it paid off. I gained some momentum and kept myself in the set until the end.”

POINT. OF. THE. DAY. ⬇️@marcpolmans | @HubertHurkacz | @bett1hulks pic.twitter.com/cqivNMp35A

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 12, 2020

Dennis Novak eliminated Thompson, with the No.94-ranked Austrian losing only 12 points on serve in a 6-3 6-3 victory.

Millman and Thompson now turn their attention to doubles. The Davis Cup team-mates play Moldova’s Radu Albot and Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in the first round.

Sardinia, Italy

John Peers and New Zealand’s Michael Venus made a winning start at the ATP tournament in Sardinia.

The No.2-seeded duo recorded a 6-3 6-4 win against Italian wildcards Marco Cecchinato and Andreas Seppi in the opening round.

It extends their record on clay this season to nine wins from 11 matches.

St. Petersburg, Russia

James Duckworth features in both singles and doubles action at an ATP 500 tournament in St. Petersburg tonight.

The No.93-ranked Duckworth plays No.17-ranked Karen Khachanov in his singles opening round.

Duckworth and Belarusian Ilya Ivashka, who have received a lucky loser spot in the doubles draw, face Russian wildcards Daniil Golubev and Evgenii Tiurnev.

Alicante, Spain

Aleksandar Vukic has continued his career-best form at an ATP Challenger tournament in Alicante.

The 24-year-old from Sydney scored a 6-2 6-1 win over France’s Enzo Couacaud, not losing serve in the 67-minute match.

Vukic plays No.582-ranked qualifier Inigo Cervantes next.

The 30-year-old Cervantes eliminated Australia’s Alex Bolt in the opening round, recording a 1-6 7-5 6-3 win.

Andrew Harris plays his first-round match tonight.