Sock and Querrey beaten on day of upsets
The ASB Classic has been rocked by back-to-back upsets with defending champion Jack Sock and third seed Sam Querrey sent packing in their opening matches.
Handed a free pass into the second round as one of top four seeds, Sock was rusty throughout against little-known German Peter Gojowczyk as he crashed to a disappointing 6-3 6-3 defeat.
Sock, the tournament’s No 1 seed, enjoyed a career-best year in 2017 where he won three titles, including the Paris Masters, and reached the semifinals of the ATP Finals to climb to eighth in the world.
But you wouldn’t have guessed it based on Wednesday’s performance.
The 28-year-old was sluggish around the court, produced far too many errors and at times looked like he would rather be anywhere else than out on Centre Court.
Gojowczyk, on the other hand, was dominant on first serve and capitalised on all his opportunities to capture just his second win over a top-10opponent.
‘‘I love this event, I wish I could have stayed longer but it wasn’t my day, I didn’t find my game as much as he did,’’ Sock said.
Meanwhile, Querrey at least managed to send his match against 2015 champion Jiri Vesely to a decider after losing the first set.
With Wednesday featuring array of big-name talent, Querrey drew the short straw with his match pushed to an outside court.
But having scraped through the second set tiebreak, it was Vesely who held his nerve in the third to win 6-4 6-7 7-6.
There were no problems for four-time champion David Ferrer, though.
The 35-year-old Spaniard made light work of Joao Sousa, cruising into the quarterfinals with a 6-2 6-2 victory.
Earlier, 2016 champion Roberto Bautista Agut almost went the same way as Sock as he came back from a set down to beat Steve Johnson.
The world No 21 looked out of sorts early. But once he eventually clicked into gear the American had so answer, Bautista Agut storming home 2-6 6-2 6-1.
‘‘He played some unbelievable shots and he played some really good points in the first set,’’ Bautista Agut said.
‘‘I said to myself that I had to change something. I went up to the net on the return and I started to play with more first serves and everything changed.’’
Bautista Agut had never lost to Johnson in four previous matches but his perfect record looked in serious danger after the first set.
The Spaniard did manage to win his first service game but it was virtually one-way traffic form that point.
Bautista Agut, who was unable to defend his title last year due to illness, struggled to cope with Johnson’s aggressive groundstrokes, the world no 26 capitalising with back-to-back breaks to rip through the set in 35 minutes.
Bautista Agut struggled to find his range but it was almost like he needed the poor start to ignite his game. As once the second set began, the 29-year-old emerged as a completely different player.
He lifted his serve and came to the net in a bid to knock Johnson off his rhythm - and it clearly worked.
The sting suddenly went out of Johnson’s strokes. He began to slice the ball much more often and errors crept in.
Having comfortably taken the second set Bautista Agut carried that momentum into the decider, a wayward Johnson volley handing him an early break.
And Bautista Agut never looked back, completing a brilliant turnaround to reach the quarterfinals where he will meet Vesely.
‘‘It’s going to be a difficult match again,’’ he said.