Americans did not have a very good day one down under as both the top female and male seeds fell.
[5] Venus Williams lost to the resurgent Belinda Bencic: 3-6, 5-7. Williams will lose valuable ranking points as a result of losing in the first round (she was a finalist last year).
[8] Jack Sock lost to Yuichi Sugita: 1-6, 6-7(4), 7-5, 3-6.
[10] Coco Vandeweghe lost to the always dangerous Timea Babos: 6-7(4), 2-6.
[13] Sloane Stephens has not won a match since winning the US Open. After going up a set, things seemed promising for her to gain her first victory; however, she was unable to hold on to the lead and lost in three sets to Shuai Zhang: 6-2, 6-7(2), 2-6.
[16] John Isner was unable to get by the Australian, Matthew Ebden; he lost 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6.
Irina Falconi lost to [23] Daria Gavrilova: 1-6, 1-6.
Kevin King lost to [15] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: 4-6, 4-6, 1-6
Sofia Kenin lost to [12] Julia Goerges: 4-6, 4-6.
Taylor Townsend lost to [19] Magdalena Rybarikova: 0-6, 5-7.
Jennifer Brady lost to Magda Linette: 6-2, 4-6, 3-6.
Alison Riske lost to Kirsten Flipkens: 6-2, 6-7(6), 3-6.
Catherine Bellis lost to [30] Kiki Bertens: 7-6(5), 4-6, 2-6.
AMERICAN SUCCESSES ON DAY ONE
Ryan Harrison def. Dudi Sela in a tough five setter: 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Nicole Gibbs def. Viktoriya Tomova: 6-1, 6-1. This was a very important victory for the American who has been struggling emotionally.
Mackenzie McDonald def. Elias Ymer: 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
NOTABLE SEEDS TO FALL ON DAY ONE
[11] Kevin Anderson lost to Kyle Edmund: 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.
[18] Lucas Pouille lost to Ruben Bemelmans: 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(6).
[24] Dominika Cibulkova lost to Kaia Kanepi: 2-6, 2-6.
[27] Philipp Kohlschreiber lost to Yoshihito Nishioka: 3-6, 6-2, 0-6, 6-1, 2-6.
[31] Ekaterina Makarova lost to Irina-Camelia Begu: 6-3, 4-6, 6-8.
SPECIAL MENTION: the number one seed, Rafael Nadal, had no stress in his first match. Nadal moved well and looked pretty confident in his dismissal of Victor Estrella Burgos: 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Zimbio.com (Scott Barbour/Getty Images AsiaPac)- picture of Mackenzie McDonald.
OMG!! What the hell happened to the Americans??? Some such as Townsend I can understand…others i.e. Williams I don’t get!! I know it’s really hot down there right now…could that be a factor?? Wow…I’m really disappointed. So sorry!!!
Many players are still rusty from their layoff. Williams has not looked herself since she lost the final of the WTA Finals to Caroline Wozniacki. I was a tad disappointed that Sloane Stephens could not close out her match after winning the first set; however, she has been injured and struggling to find her form since the US Open. As the for the men, I am surprised; however, not shocked.