2023 Australian Open runner-up, Stefanos Tsitsipas, has suffered a first-round exit at the first Grand Slam of the tennis calendar following a four-set loss to Alex Michelsen of the United States.
The 11th seed’s time in Australia comes to a premature end altogether, having decided before his men’s singles match against Michelsen to withdraw from the men’s doubles along with his brother, Petros, to focus on the singles.
Rather than progress in the singles, Tsitsipas ended up losing 7-4 6-3 2-6 6-4 to Michelsen as his gamble of withdrawing from the doubles backfired terribly for the 26-year-old Greek.
It’s the second successive time in Grand Slam tournaments that Tsitsipas has crashed out in the first round, following similar exit at last year’s US Open. He also only made it to the second round at last year’s Wimbledon.
Elsewhere at Melbourne, world number one Jannik Sinner opened up his Australian Open title defence with a 7-6 7-6 6-1 victory over Chile’s Nicolas Jarry.