At a glance
[5] R Bautista Agut (ESP) b S Johnson (USA) 2-6
6-2 6-1, [1] J Sock (USA) lost to P Gojowczyk (GER) [7] 6-3 6-3, [3] J Vesely (CZE) b S Querrey (USA) 6-4 6-7 7-6, R Haase (NED) b [LL] L Lacko (SVK) 7-6
6-3, [7] D Ferrer (ESP) b J Sousa (POR) 6-2 6-2, K Khachanov (RUS) b [6] P Cuevas (URU) 6-2 7-6, Martin del Potro [ARG] b Denis Shapovalov [Can] 6-2,
6-4. [1] O Marach (AUT)/M Pavic (CRO) b G Duran (ARG)/A Molteni (ARG) 6-4 6-7 10-6.
German Peter Gojowczyk.
With the first four seeds handed a bye into the second round, rust was an undoubtedly an issue for the world No 8, who was coming off a career-best year in 2017.
But he was plagued by errors and even looked disinterested at
times throughout the second set, with the match barely lasting an hour.
Querrey, meanwhile, was forced to play his opening match against 2015 champion Jiri Vesely on an outside court, such was the array of top-level talent on display at Stanley Street yesterday.
But while he at least managed to send the match to a decider after dropping the first set, he could not win a second-straight tiebreak, going down 6-4 6-7 7-6.
"It was my first match of the year and it’s tough to come out against a lefty who junks the ball around," Querrey said.
"You don’t get a great rhythm, but I’ll try to take the positives away, I hung in there and saved some match points."
In the opening match of the day, 2016 champion Roberto Bautista Agut almost went the same way as Sock and Querrey 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.
Promising Russian Karen Khachanov also continued his impressive start to the tournament, overpowering sixth seed Pablo Cuevas 6-2 7-6.
In the evening session, Juan Martin del Potro showed he’s still the master with a 6-2 6-4 win over Canada’s Denis Shapovalov.
It was Del Potro’s first appearance in Auckland since 2009 and he remains unbeaten at the tournament with a victory in a match that didn’t really live up to the hype.