Sixth seed Lucas Pouille recovered from a disastrous start to get the better of his French compatriot Gilles Simon for the first time on Tuesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. Roger Federer’s training partner during the off-season, who is currently No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, edged past Simon 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in two hours and six minutes.

Pouille was down 0-5 in first set against Simon and worried that he might be headed for a repeat of the 6-0, 6-1 loss to Simon in Miami last year. But he rallied en route to claiming his first win in three career meetings. Pouille saved two sets points in the first set at 2-5, 30/40 and at 5/6 in the tie-break, and another two set points at 4-5 in the second set.

“I used what happened in Miami as inspiration to fight back,” said Pouille. “I tried to stay focused, to be solid, more consistent, a little more aggressive and things turned out better.”

In other first-round matches, wild card Sam Groth delighted the local crowd with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The Aussie held serve to stay in the match at 4-5 in the deciding set. Groth improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Herbert to 2-0, with the other win also coming in Brisbane in 2014.

“It’s been a while since I had a tour-level win. After last year it was nice to start the year with a win, that’s for sure,” said Groth, who struggled with injuries throughout 2016. “Foot feels good, body feels good, had a full off-season. I felt like I was moving better today than I probably moved for the whole of last year.”

Next up for the big server is fourth seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian, currently No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-0, with both straight-set performances coming this past season in Miami and Stuttgart.

Qualifier and #NextGen star Jared Donaldson recorded an impressive 6-4, 6-4 win over veteran Gilles Muller. The 20-year-old American won 82 per cent of his first serve points and wrapped up victory in just 75 minutes. His reward is a tough second-round battle against third seed Kei Nishikori.

Viktor Troicki advanced on Tuesday with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over qualifier and #NextGen star Yoshihito Nishioka. Next up for the Serbian is second seed Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss star leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 6-0, including two victories this past season at Roland Garros and St. Petersburg.

Rafael Nadal returned to the ATP World Tour for the first time in two-and-a-half months to beat 2012 finalist Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday night at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The Spanish superstar, who is making his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 hard-court tournament, will next face Mischa Zverev in the second round.

It was a battle between one of the ATP World Tour’s heaviest top-spinners, Nadal, versus one of flattest hitters, Dolgopolov, who gained the first break in the third game. Nadal responded by winning four straight games to wrap up the 36-minute opener and broke Dolgopolov in the fifth and ninth games of the second set. Dolgopolov had won the pair’s previous two meetings at the 2014 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and at the 2015 Aegon Championships in London.

Zverev, who rose 121 spots to a 2016 year-end No. 51 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, overcame qualifier Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-3 in 68 minutes during the evening session.

Milos Raonic has arrived at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp and is ready to make a statement in his first tournament of 2017.

But before he takes the court for his match of the season, the top seed and defending champion made time to take in the sights of this world-class city. Raonic boarded a CityCat cruise around the Brisbane River on Tuesday and met Adrian Schrinner, the city’s Deputy Mayor.

“It’s great to be back here. This is the most ideal way for us, as tennis players, to start off an Australian summer,” said Raonic. “Having five of the Top 10 players here is of great significance. It’s obviously a great show not only of the kind of support that we have here in Brisbane, but also the quality of the tournament and the fact that players believe this is the most ideal way to start. They feel the comfort of being here many years over and over again.”

Having received a first-round bye, the World No. 3 will play the winner between Sam Querrey and Diego Schwartzman. Raonic is even with Querrey in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry at 2-2, but has won their past two matches.

The Canadian has thrived in Brisbane throughout his career, posting a 7-2 career record in his three appearances. He also finished runner-up at this event in 2015 (l. Federer).

This will be Raonic’s first match with 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek as part of his coaching team. The Dutchman will also work alongside Riccardo Piatti, who has been with the Canadian since 2014. 

Qualifier Hyeon Chung began his 2017 ATP World Tour season with an upset over sixth seed and fellow NextGen star Borna Coric at the Aircel Chennai Open on Monday. The 20-year-old Korean topped the Croat 6-3, 7-5 in just over two hours. In the second round, Chung will face Dudi Sela, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Damir Dzumhur.

Top seed Marin Cilic will begin his season against Jozef Kovalik after the 24-year-old Slovakian defeated Gastao Elias 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2. Steve Darcis beat Nikola Mektic 6-2, 6-3 to set a second-round clash with third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Elsewhere, Moscow native Daniil Medvedev beat Thiago Monteiro 6-3, 6-3. The NextGen player awaits the winner of eighth seed Yen-Hsun Lu and Radu Albot.

In doubles, second seeds Guillermo Duran and Andres Molteni defeated Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(4), 6-4 to set a quarter-final meeting with Johan Brunstrom and Andreas Siljestrom, 6-2, 6-4 winners over Indian wild cards N.Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan.