Kubler, Bolt lose at Open

Local wildcards Jason Kubler and Alex Bolt have both come up just short in their quests for maiden major victories at the Australian Open.

Eight long years after his last main-draw appearance at Melbourne Park, Kubler went down to Spanish 10th seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who had enjoyed a breakthrough 2017 campaign.

The match was evenly poised when rain halted play early for 20 minutes early in the third set.

US Open semi-finalist Carreno Busta claimed a tight third set and then powered away to win 7-5 4-6 7-5 6-1 in three hours and 31 minutes.

World No.243 Kubler dropped all four of his service games in the final set against Carreno Busta, who also appeared at the World Tour Finals for the first time last year.

Kubler’s only previous outing at his home major came as a 16-year-old wildcard in 2010, when he was ousted in the opening round by Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, now coaching Roger Federer.

In the intervening years, Kubler – a former junior world No.1 ranked junior – suffered a string of serious knee injuries.

Bolt, 25, went even closer to a breakthrough triumph at grand slam level on Monday.

He grabbed a two-set lead against Serbian Viktor Troicki before fading to lose 6-7 (2-7) 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4.

Troicki, 31, reached a career-high ranking of 12 back in 2011.

He will play either Australian No.1 Nick Kyrgios or Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva in the second round.

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