Murray crashes out as Fed, Nadal f ight on

● Hip injury scuttles Scot’s hopes, putting Wimbledon bid in doubt

A battling Andy Murray bowed out of the Australian Open at the first hurdle on Monday, but it was business as usual for ruthless Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who joined Caroline Wozniacki in round two.

The Scottish five-time Melbourne Park finalist gave it everything he had and showed glimpses of the form that won him three Grand Slams, but his ailing body let him down during a gutsy 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-7 (4/7) defeat to 22nd seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

Murray, 31, tearfully revealed before the tournament that he was in constant agony from a hip injury and planned to retire this year.

He hopes to end his career at Wimbledon, but has admitted the Australian Open could be his last event.

“Amazing. That was incredible, thank you so, so much to everyone that came out tonight,” he said after being given a rapturous send-off.

While Murray’s tournament ended in despair, Swiss master Federer, six years older than Murray, continued his march towards a record seventh Australian Open title.

Sweeping past Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-3 6-4 6-4, he said he was in disbelief that he was the double defending champion at his age and vowed to give his all to make it three in a row.

His long-time rival Nadal showed no mercy to Australian wildcard James Duckworth in his opening-round clash. The 17-time Grand Slam winner cruised through 6-4 6-3 7-5, calling it an important victory.

“Not easy to come back after a lot of months, especially against a player playing super aggressive on every point,” the 2009 Australian champion said.

The second seed is bidding to become the first man in the Open era, and only the third in history along with Roy Emerson and Rod Laver, to win each Grand Slam on two or more occasions.

Fifth seed Kevin Anderson progressed, as did NextGen Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas. But ninth seed John Isner became the first top seed to crash out.

World No 3 Wozniacki, who made her Grand Slam breakthrough in Melbourne last year, opened her defence with a convincing 6-3 6-4 win over Belgium’s Alison van Uytvanck.

It was an emotional win for the Dane who is struggling with rheumatoid arthritis and she was in tears afterwards.

“Last year I had some special memories and just to be able to be back out here is something extremely special and emotional,” she said.

Second seed and 2016 champion Angelique Kerber was also impressive, breezing past Slovenia’s Polona Hercog 6-2 6-2.

Maria Sharapova, a winner at Melbourne in 2008, signalled her intent with a rare 6-0 6-0 double bagel demolition of Britain’s Harriet Dart. –