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Ben Shelton's Australian Open preparations have taken an unexpected hit after the American departed the Brisbane International in the first round.
- Ben Shelton lost 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 to Roman Safiullin
- Men's top seed Holger Rune defeated Australia's Max Purcell
- Australia's Daria Saville won her first match in the women's singles draw
Shelton, who reached the US Open semifinals last year, was outplayed by Russia's Roman Safiullin, who won 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 on Pat Rafter Arena.
The world number 17, seeded third in Brisbane, was unable to break Safiullin's serve and found himself constantly under pressure.
Safiullin, boasting a Wimbledon quarterfinal appearance last July and a win over Carlos Alcaraz in October, chipped away until it eventually told on Shelton.
An Australian Open quarterfinalist last year, Shelton grew increasingly frustrated before double-faulting to hand the Russian the decisive break in the third set.
Safiullin then steadied to serve out the match from 0-30 and book a second-round date with Australian world number 40 Alexei Popyrin.
"The main goal was to try to return his serve and get as much as I could in the point and see what I could do," Safiullin said.
Loading...In other results in the men's singles draw, Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov both survived scares as the tournament's top two seeds safely progressed to the second round.
Australian Max Purcell threatened to send top-seeded Rune packing before the Danish sensation eked out a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory on a Monday program decimated by rain.
Second-seeded 2017 champion Dimitrov then also recovered from a set down to deny former world number one Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Australia's Daria Saville won 6-0, 6-4 over Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska in the women's singles draw.
Saville will take on world number 28 Anastasia Potapova in the round of 32.
A backlog of matches caused by the Brisbane rain forced officials to delay releasing the schedule for Tuesday, when 22-time major singles champion Rafael Nadal is expected to make his comeback from a hip injury.
Nadal will face former world number three Dominic Thiem in his first match in almost a year.
AAP