Australian Open 2026 Men’s Day 3

Jannik Sinner bolted to a no-nonsense win to start his Australian Open title defence on Tuesday, with injured opponent Hugo Gaston retiring as he trailed 6-2, 6-1.

The winner of the past two editions at Melbourne Park reached the second round over the No. 93 in 71 minutes.

The Italian has now won 11 consecutive matches in straight sets, last losing one in the late October Vienna final.

“I could see he was not serving at a very high pace in the second set,” the winner said. But of course this is not the way you want to win a match.”

Sinner’s win was his first in an official event since claiming the ATP Finals crowd at home in Turin two months ago.

Italian compatriot Lorenzo Musetti set the winning pace for Sinner with an afternoon win, with the No. 5 coming back over three hours for a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 3-2 win as Spain’s Raphael Collignon retired hurt.

 The two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist who played the Hong Kong ATP final nine days ago, was pleased with his fightback against a hampered opponent.

“I struggled a bit to find rhythm, I was missing a lot of easy shot, especially on the forehand and serve.

“I could not get the feeling.”

After losing the first, Musetti started finding his range, levelling the first round match at a set apiece before firing his jets for the win.

“At the end I could see he was struggling physically,” Musetti said. I was focusing too much on the possibility that he would retire.

“But I closed out the match with a great game.”

Lorenzo Sonego completed an Italian hat-trick of wins with his 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 defeat of Spain’s Carlos Taberner.

Argentine Sebastian Baez, who ran off seven straight wins this month, started his campaign here 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3 defeat of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard which took three and a quarter hours.

Eighth seed Ben Shelton, who played a semi-final here a year ago, got his 2026 campaign up and running 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) over Ugo Humbert ..

Aussie qualifier Dane Sweeny fell on his back with joy after ending the Melbourne career of Gael Monfils as he beat the iconic Frenchman 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4, 7-5.

Monfils is retiring htis year and will not be back at the Grand Slam.

The 38-year-old, married to WTA player Elina Svitolina, said that his decision to quit the sport was a long time coming.

“This decision, I had it like long time ago. First time was almost during COVID, I wanted to stop almost.

‘Then when (Elina) was  pregnant I also ruptured my plantar fascia. I was about to say I was done.

“All the time telling (she was ) me, push me through the limits a little bit.”