The draw for the Australian Open once again proved unkind to Portuguese No1 Rui Machado.
The Algarvean faced fifth seed David Ferrer in his opening encounter of tennis’ first Grand Slam tournament of the new season on Tuesday and was duly overwhelmed 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
Meanwhile title favourites Novak Djorkovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and last Briton standing, Andy Murray, all enjoyed relatively untroubled passages into round two.
