The first day of main draw at the Charles Sturt Adelaide International proved to be a day of upsets with five seeded players exiting the tournament.
The biggest of the upsets was world number 174 and second seed Hiroki Moriya of Japan who was beaten by Russian Alexander Lobkov in straight sets 6-0, 6-3.
Australian 4th seed and crowd favourite John Millman was also eliminated losing in three tight sets to Frenchman Stephane Robert. Millman and Robert battled it out in the Burnie International final last week with Millman victorious however Robert exacted revenge at West Lakes, progressing to the second round at the expense of the Aussie.
Fellow Australian and seventh seed James Duckworth also had a tough match going down in straight sets to British player James Ward. Canadian third seed Peter Polansky was the only seed to break the trend, accounting for New Zealander Daniel King-Turner in straight sets.
On the local front, it was a successful day for the South Australian’s with Luke Saville and Colin Ebelthite progressing to the second round. Saville, fresh from a trip to Chinese Taipei with the Australian Davis Cup squad accounted for Dane Propoggia in three sets while Ebelthite -who qualified for the main draw overcame fellow qualifier Michael Venus in straight sets. Unfortunately fellow South Australian Alex Bolt was not able to continue the streak losing to Matt Reid 7-6 6-4 in the last match of the day.
In other results, New Zealander Rubin Statham defeated Luca Vanni, while in the battle of the qualifiers, Sean Berman defeated Ivo Klec in three sets. Australian’s John-Patrick Smith and Greg Jones also progressed to the second round after both recorded straight set victories against Andrea Arnaboldi and Adam Feeney respectively.
The schedule for tomorrow has been released with Sam Groth – who hit the fastest ever serve in the ATP – to play Chris Guccione who is fresh off the plane from Chinese Taipei after winning his doubles match with Lleyton Hewitt in the Davis Cup tie for Australia.
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