Andy Murray out of Australian Open after first-round defeat

Headliners

Andy Murray had been virtually written off by oddsmakers after revealing in an emotional press conference that his first-round match at the Australian Open may well be his last at Melbourne Park.

But anyone who lumped on Doha champion Roberto Bautista Agut, the Scot's last-128 opponent, at around 1-4 and shorter must have been searching for the worry beads as Murray fought back from the loss of the two opening sets to draw level with the Spaniard at two sets all.

Sadly for tennis fans all over Britain and all over the world, Murray could not complete the fightback against the recently crowned Qatar Open champion - he was out on his feet in the deciding set. But Murray's effort guaranteed him a new army of fans as the end of his career approaches.

Murray made it clear after the 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 6-2 loss that if he was to finish his career at Wimbledon, as the tennis world is hoping, it will be necessary for him to undergo a sizeable operation in the coming months.

Roger Federer, who was awarded the latest in a long line of easy draws in a major, will meet Murray's fellow Briton Dan Evans in round two of the Aussie Open after a bloodless 6-3 6-4 6-4 triumph over Denis Istomin.

• Australian Open: day two tips

Evans opened with a 7-5 6-1 7-6 win against Tatsuma Ito in Melbourne, but the Birmingham battler will do well to keep tabs on the defending champion, who is 5-1 to make it three Aussie Open titles on the spin this year.

Rafael Nadal made a positive start to his bid for a second Australian Open singles crown when easing past James Duckworth 6-4 6-3 7-5.

The world number two, 9-1 for the title, faces another Aussie, Matt Ebden, in round two and Nadal is not expected to be unduly troubled again.

In the women's singles, the well-fancied quintet of Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki, Aryna Sabalenka, Petra Kvitova and Ashleigh Barty all made comfortable progress, while Maria Sharapova opened with a 6-0 6-0 victory over Britain's Harriet Dart.

Shocks of the day

Kyle Edmund reached the semi-finals of the year's first major last year, but it wasn't to be this season as the Briton was thrashed 6-3 6-0 7-5 by resurgent Tomas Berdych.

Edmund, seeded 13th, was one of a number of Britons who bit the dust early - Dart was joined in the women's scrap heap by Heather Watson who won just three games against Petra Martic - but there was better news regarding Katie Boulter, who did well to pip Ekaterina Makarova 6-0 4-6 7-6.

After a superb 2018, John Isner has started the new campaign on the back foot with an early exit in Auckland being followed by a round-one defeat to fellow American Reilly Opelka in Victoria.

Tiebreaks were predicted beforehand in this one and it did not disappoint with Opelka triumphing 7-6 7-6 6-7 7-6 against the giant ninth seed.

Another American, Steve Johnson, has also started the year slowly and he had no answer to Sydney finalist Andreas Seppi, going down 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3.

Jelena Ostapenko, French Open champion in 2017, was the chief casualty on day one of the women's singles, the Latvian coming up short in a 6-1 3-6 6-2 loss to Maria Sakkari.

Experienced duo Julia Goerges and Barbora Strycova also came early croppers in losses to respective opponents Danielle Collins and Yulia Putintseva.

Player in focus

Jordan Thompson made a positive start to his homeland major and the Australian could be worth punters keeping him on their side in the next round or two.

Thompson, who is still 1,000-1 for the title, ousted seasoned Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-1 7-6 6-3 in round one - a fine victory against one of tennis's finest match-players - and the Sydney native could be worth supporting against busy Andreas Seppi in his next outing and possibly even Kevin Anderson or Frances Tiafoe after that.

Thompson's eighth of the draw has opened right up with Isner and Johnson exiting proceedings and he, Berdych and Diego Schwartzman will all be fancying their chances of good runs in Melbourne.

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