Bernard Tomic’s hope of resurrecting his tennis career at the Australian Open are in tatters after his first round exit in qualifying.
Tomic was dismissed by seventh-seeded Ukrainian Denis Kudla in straight sets 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in hot and smoky conditions at Melbourne Park.
A former world No.17, Tomic hoped for better 2020 after his ranking slid to 182 following a year to forget.
His match got off to a promising start on Tuesday, but the 27-year-old slowly began to wilt in the tough conditions.
Tomic called for a trainer at 1-2 in the second set to check on his breathing before eventually succumbing to defeat.
Meanwhile, former Wimbeldon finalist Eugenie Bouchard survived a gruelling battle in Melbourne’s smoke to escape through the first round.
The Canadian, who has been ranked as high as fifth in the world, called multiple medical timeouts in her 4-6 7-6 6-1 victory of China’s Xiaodi You.
Bouchard received medical attention for about 10 minutes after winning the second-set tie-break, then taking the first game of the third.
After the opening game of the deciding set, You then asked for assistance from the trainer.
You regularly served under-arm during the third set as she struggled in the oppressive conditions.
Earlier, former world No.39 Matthew Ebden was knocked out of qualifying in the first round.
Ebden, who dropped almost 200 places in the rankings last year to 237th, was beaten 7-5 6-4 by Italian Gianluca Mager.