“Still not feeling great,” the American went on to admit during his press conference, “but at the same time you do feel great because you get to see another day. So you feel even worse if you’re feeling like this and you’re out of the tournament.

“I’m still in. So I’m going to sleep tonight with a little chuckle on my face, for sure.”

One man who definitely won’t be chuckling is 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov. The 2017 semifinalist was heartbroken as he retired with a hip injury early in the second set against Italian lucky loser Francesco Passaro. 

It is the second retirement in as many tournaments for Dimitrov this year, and the Bulgarian also had Grand Slam runs disrupted by injury at both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2024.  

Elsewhere, Aussie Christopher O’Connell came agonisingly close to scoring one of the wins of his career before falling in five tight sets to American Tommy Paul at well past midnight.

The AO 2023 semifinalist was preparing himself for a deciding set tiebreak before breaking in the 12th game of the fifth to shatter the hearts of the Kia Arena crowd with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-7(7) 7-5 win. 
 

Last Saturday’s Adelaide champion Felix Auger-Aliassime carried over his form and momentum to Melbourne to get past dangerous German Jan Lennard Struff on Court 7.

The Canadian 29th seed quickly got things back on track after losing the third set to advance 6-3 6-0 4-6 6-1. He plays Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina next.  

It was a good day for the Brits as Jack Draper survived a scare in his first match of the year to come through a deciding fifth set 6-2 against Argentine Mariano Navone.

The 2024 US Open semifinalist recovered from two sets to one down to finish strongly despite recently nursing a hip injury during the off season.

“I think I showed a lot of heart today,” said the world No.18, who plays Thanasi Kokkinakis next. “Wasn’t pretty at all. Was nowhere near my best. Sometimes it’s about showing some heart.” 

Later in the day, fellow Brit Jacob Fearnley made a name for himself on his Australian Open debut by seeing off a less-than-100 per cent fit Kyrgios 7-6(3) 6-3 7-6(2).