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MELBOURNE, Australia – On the last day of the three devoted to the first round, No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz finally took the court, in the night session on Rod Laver Arena.

He drew Richard Gasquet, who until this very day remained in the top 100 for as long as a man probably could. And he’ll be back again. He gave absolutely full effort, but it wasn’t close to enough.

The Dimitrov-Fucsovics tussle on John Cain Arena, if we can be so superficial, was certainly a duel of the abs but won by the better player.

Jack Draper and Jiri Lehecka, who played in the Adelaide final Saturday, got the maximum potential rest with their first rounds only on Tuesday. But even then, Draper barely made it to the handshake before sprinting to spill his cookies in a courtside wastebasket, with the effort and the heat.

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Australian Open
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Category: Grand Slam
Surface: Outdoor Hard
Dates: Jan. 14 – 28, 2024
Prize money: $86.5 million AUD
Draws: S128 / D64

Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024
Final results
Singles, first round

Extra time

Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) def Sebastian Ofner (AUT) 76 (1) 26 67 (4) 61 76 [10-8]

Upsets

[Q] Sumit Nagal (IND) def [31] Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 64 26 76 (5)

0-2 comebacks

[28] Tallon Griekspoor (NED) def. Roman Safiullin (RUS) 26 36 76 (3) 64 75

Other five-setters

[WC] Shang Juncheng (CHN) def Mackenzie McDonald (USA) 63 16 26 64 62
[WC] Arthur Cazaux (FRA) def Laslo Djere (SRB) 62 67 (3) 62 36 62
Jack Draper (GBR) def Marcos Giron (USA) 64 36 46 60 62

Seeds advancing

[2] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) def. Richard Gasquet (FRA) 76 (5) 61 62
[6] Alexander Zverev (GER) def Dominik Koepfer (GER)   46 63 76 (3) 63
[8] Holger Rune (DEN) def. Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 62 46 76 (3) 64
[11] Casper Ruud (NOR) def Albert Ramos-Viñolas (ESP) 61 63 61
[13] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) def. Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 46 63 76 (3) 62
[14] Tommy Paul (USA) def. Grégoire Barrere (FRA) 62 63 63
[19] Cameron Norrie (GBR) def Juan Pablo Varillas (PER) 64 64 62
[32] Jiri Lehecka (CZE) def Bernabe Zapata Miralles (ESP) 63 62 63

Other results (in alphabetical order)

Arthur Fils (FRA) def Jiri Vesely (CZE) 46 75 62 63
[Q] Lukas Klein (SVK) def Soonwoo Kwon (KOR) 76 (0) 46 76 (3) 63
Alex Michelsen (USA) def. [WC] James McCabe (AUS) 76 (5) 36 61 62
Max Purcell (AUS) def. [Q] Mate Valkusz (HUN) 36 76 (2) 64 75
Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) def. Dan Evans (GBR) 46 76 (10) 62 76 (4)
[Q] Giulio Zeppieri (ITA) def Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 63 36 63 76 (3)

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Stephanie Myles

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