Sam Groth’s dismal year has continued in Mexico with a three-set loss at the ATP Tour’s Acapulco Open while Bernard Tomic has won through to the second round.
Tomic was the only Australian to win their first-round match on Tuesday when he managed to get he better of American Rajeev Ram 7-5 6-3.
Queenslander John Millman was outclassed by top seed David Ferrer, the Spaniard cruising to a 6-4 6-2 victory.
Groth’s defeat stretched his first-round exits to four straight tournaments in a 6-4 3-6 7-5 loss to Russian Dmitry Tursunov, ranked No.264 in the world.
It was Tursunov’s first ATP main-draw match win in 20 months.
Groth’s wretched run of form will be of some concern to Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, who named the Victorian in his team to take on the United States next month in Melbourne.
Since losing to Andy Murray in the second round of the Australian Open, world No.75 Groth this month has been eliminated in the first round of the Challenger Tour’s Dallas Championships and three top-tier tournaments – the Memphis Open, Delray Beach Open and Acapulco Open.
All but one of those defeats were to opponents ranked significantly below Groth – world No.181 Frances Tiafoe in Dallas, No.82 Illya Marchenko in Memphis and No.245 Noah Rubin in Delray Beach before the loss to Tursunov.
Tomic will face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the second round.