An extraordinary incident involving an eye injury to John Millman has seen the Australian retire from his first round match at the ATP 500 event at Acapulco on Wednesday.
After losing the first set and trailing 1-0 to USA's Marcus Giron, Millman managed hit the tennis ball into his own eye, needing an immediate medical timeout.
Following a lengthy break, Millman returned to play three points but then was forced to retire because of the injury.
This is one of the weirdest injuries that I have ever seen on a tennis court #ATPAcapulco pic.twitter.com/Rrln67YyHn
— Scott Reichel (@ReichelRadio) February 23, 2022
Alexei Popyrin was the lone Australian winner on the ATP and WTA circuits in the first round, with Alex De Minuar, Chris O'Connell and Alja Tomljanovic all being bundled out at the first hurdle.
De Minaur was taken out 6-3 6-7(1) 7-6 by in-form Russian Karen Khachanov in the first round of the ATP 500 event in Dubai.
The 26th-ranked Khachanov, who made the semi-final at Doha last week, had to fight for the win against the 32nd-ranked Australian, with 12 breaks of serve spread across the three sets.
De Minaur will be disappointed to be knocked out as a round-of-16 match loomed against world no.1 Novak Djokovic.
There was good news for Australia in the UAE with lucky loser Popyrin posting a solid win against Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2 6-3.
Popyrin lost his final qualifying match for the main draw against Jiri Vesely but was given a reprieve after a withdrawal earned him a place in the first round.
The 22nd-ranked Basilashvili came into the Popyrin match in good form after finishing runner-up in Doha to Roberto Bautista Agut last week.
Christopher O'Connell managed to win the first set against legend Andy Murray, but was eventually overpowered 6-7(4) 6-3 7-5.
O'Connell did have four break opportunities to take a 5-4 lead in the third set but squandered his chances.
In the WTA, lucky loser Alja Tomljanovic crashed out in the first round in Doha to Russia's Daria Kasatkina 6-4 6-7(4) 6-2.
While Daria Saville (nee Gavrilova) was putting up a good fight against no.1 seed Emma Raducanu time of publication, with the match tied at a set apiece 5-7 7-6(4).
