Australian Nick Kyrgios needed three sets to defeat challenger Alexandre Muller of France in first-round play on Tuesday at the Murray River Open in Melbourne, one of two warm-up tournaments ahead of next week’s Australian Open.
Kyrgios, the No. 13 seed, fell behind early but rebounded to top Muller 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), capitalizing on 22 aces en route to the win.
Another Australian, Andrew Harris, also was pushed to three sets before beating Taro Daniel of Japan 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
Other winners on Tuesday were Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, Gilles Simon of France and Czech Jiri Vesely.
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Great Ocean Road Open
Alternate Matthew Ebden of Australia scored a first-round victory over Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 7-6(6) at the Great Ocean Road Open in Melbourne.
The 33-year-old Ebden, ranked No. 320 on the ATP Tour, is seeking his first career tournament win.
Other winners were Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands, Thiago Monteiro of Brazil, Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany and Mario Vilella Martinez of Spain.
The eight top seeds had a bye in the first round and are scheduled to play on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media