Kyle Edmund is smashed off the court by 15th seed Jannik Sinner as he wins just six games in straight-sets defeat that dumps him out of the Australian Open
- Heavy loss is another blow for Briton as he comes back from horror knee injury
- Sinner broke Edmund’s serve seven times on his way to dominant win
- Italian will now face Gregoire Barrere or Tomas Martin Etcheverry
Jannik Sinner is the first big-name seed through to the Australian Open second round following a thumping win over returning former semi-finalist Kyle Edmund.
The world No.16 crushed Edmund 6-4 6-0 6-2 in less than two hours at Melbourne Park on Monday.
With Australian super coach Darren Cahill in his corner, Sinner showed no mercy against Edmund, who is still in the infancy of a comeback from a knee injury that sidelined the 2018 Open semi-finalist for 22 months.
He broke the Brit seven times, dropped his own serve only once and clubbed 24 clean winners to Edmund’s 10.
Edmund cut a dejected figure as he left the court after his heavy loss to the 15th seed
The British star’s serve was broken seven times as he continues his comeback from a knee injury that required two bouts of surgery and left him sidelined for 22 months
Sinner returned to Melbourne after a breakout season at the grand slams in 2022, reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open and also the second week in Paris.
Standing in the 21-year-old’s path to another last-eight run could be third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round.
Next up for Sinner on Wednesday, though, will be either Frenchman Gregoire Barrere or Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina.
Sinner showed no mercy as he built on an impressive 2022 season that saw him reach the quarter finals at Wimbledon and the Australian and US Opens
Tsitsipas opens his campaign on Monday night against Frenchman Quentin Halys.
Top-seeded titleholder Rafael Nadal and 2021 and 2022 runner-up Daniil Medvedev are also in action on Monday night.