Australians Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic were both first casualties in the opening round of the Western & Southern Open in New York.
German Jan-Lennard Struff defeated De Minaur 6-2 6-4 in an upset for the young Aussie and the No.57-ranked Tomljanovic lost a two-hour, 46-minute battle against Veronika Kudermetova 5-7 6-3 7-5.
“It shows we can move past the tragedy that has happened this year,” De Minaur said after his match.
“We are showing we can put tennis back on the map, we can have live sport again. All the people stuck at home have got something to watch, which I think is very important.”
In doubles, Ellen Perez and Storm Sanders were the only Aussie winners on day one, beating seventh seeds Anna-Lena Friedsam and Katerina Siniakova 6-2 1-6 [14-12].
Australian Open 2020 finalists Max Purcell and Luke Saville crashed out, losing 6-3 6-0 to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and American John Isner.
