Australians Sam Groth and James Duckworth have suffered first-round defeats at the ATP event in Washington.

It took Israel’s Dudi Sela two hours to get by lucky loser Groth on Tuesday, prevailing 7-6 3-6 6-4 just two days after losing to John Isner in the Atlanta Open final.

Groth fired 16 aces but won just four of 16 break point chances, while Sela went three for six on his opportunities.

Wildcard Duckworth went down in two sets to American Steve Johnson, whose 6-3 7-6 victory earned him a second-round clash with compatriot and No.5 seed Isner.

Sam Querry blasted 17 aces in his 6-4 6-3 win over fellow American Michael Russell for a next round match-up against No.4 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic will battle each other in the second round after winning their opening matches on Tuesday, while Bernard Tomic faces Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.