Twelve months ago, Grigor Dimitrov needed to save two match points to beat hometown favourite John Millman at the Brisbane International.

On Wednesday, however, Dimitrov needed only two sets. The 2017 champion held off a second-set comeback to accelerate his clean start to the 2019 season, 6-3, 6-4.

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Dimitrov led by a set and double break, 6-3, 4-1. But Millman served for a 5-4 advantage before Dimitrov broke for the fourth time and then served out the second-round match.

The Bulgarian is into the quarter-finals for the sixth time in seven Brisbane appearances. He will next meet American Denis Kudla or second seed Kei Nishikori of Japan. Nishikori leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-1; Dimitrov and Kudla split their two prior matchups.

Japanese qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama earned the upset of the tournament so far. The 26-year-old, No. 185 in the ATP Rankings, dismissed third seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 7-6(6), 6-4.

Uchiyama hit 15 aces and saved all three break points faced to knock out the World No. 14 Edmund, who made the Australian Open semi-finals last year. Uchiyama will will meet either Aussie Nick Kyrgios or Jeremy Chardy of France for a place in the semi-finals.

Juan Martin del Potro will miss the season’s first Grand Slam because he’s still recovering from a fractured patella suffered in October.

The World No. 5 is coming off one of his best seasons and was expected to contend for the Australian Open title. Last year, he matched his personal year-end best ATP Ranking, beat Roger Federer to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title (Indian Wells), made his second Grand Slam final (US Open) and qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.

But the 30-year-old Argentine didn’t play again after falling on his right knee at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Del Potro retired from his third-round match against Borna Coric at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Del Potro wrote on Twitter, “Recovery is going great and I will tell you later where I will be making my comeback. Unfortunately it won’t happen in Australia, I’ll miss you Australian Open, but I’m happy with my progress.”

I hope you have a great 2019. Recovery is going great and I will tell you later where I will be making my comeback. Unfortunately it won’t happen in Australia, I’ll miss you @AustralianOpen, but I’m happy with my progress ☺️

Happy New Year! Enjoy! ??

— Juan M. del Potro (@delpotrojuan) 31 de diciembre de 2018

Del Potro reached the third round of the Australian Open last year, the first time he had played in Melbourne since 2014. Wrist injuries forced him to miss the tournament from 2015-2016, and he opted for a longer off-season before starting the 2017 season at the Delray Beach Open.

Could Nick Kyrgios’ infamous spider bite have given him special serving powers?

Kyrgios nearly made serving history on Tuesday at the Brisbane International, hitting 44 aces in his first-round victory against Ryan Harrison. That is tied for the second most aces in a best-of-three set tour-level match since such records were first kept in 1991. The only player who has hit more aces in best-of-three action was Ivo Karlovic, who struck 45 aces against Tomas Berdych in Halle three years ago.

Watch Kyrgios vs. Harrison Match Highlights

Could Kyrgios have served any better in his first match of the 2019 ATP Tour season?

“I don’t think so,” Kyrgios said. “I needed every single one of them today, though.”

Kyrgios landed 80 first served in a rematch of the 2017 Brisbane final, meaning that 55 per cent of his first-serve points resulted in aces. The Aussie lost just seven service points in the final set, ultimately winning the match in a third-set tie-break after two hours and eight minutes.

Most Aces In A Best-Of-Three Match

“My serve is always something that I know that I can go back on, and today it came through again,” Kyrgios said.

The defending champion wasn’t the only one serving rockets on Pat Rafter Arena on Tuesday, though. Harrison hit 27 aces himself, earning praise from Kyrgios.

“He was serving well today as well,” Kyrgios said. “I thought that his serve improved a lot since the last time I played him, which was last year at this time. His serve was a lot harder to read.”

Kyrgios will hope to serve at or near the same level in the second round against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

It might be a new year, but Damir Dzumhur had to deal with the same Novak Djokovic on Tuesday in Doha. World No. 1 Djokovic picked up where he left off at the end of the 2018 season, beating Dzumhur 6-1, 6-2 in just 55 minutes to reach the second round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

The top seed has won 11 consecutive matches at the season-opening event — having lifted the trophy in 2016 and 2017 — and he is now 13-1 overall at the ATP 250 tournament. Djokovic will next face 2018 Geneva champion Marton Fucsovics for a spot in the quarter-finals.

“To start off the tournament as I have tonight obviously makes me very, very confident and also very happy,” Djokovic said. “First day of the new year, I want to wish everyone a happy new year, lots of good emotions and lots of good tennis.”

Djokovic is riding a tidal wave of momentum into 2019, having climbed from No. 22 in the ATP Rankings last June to his fifth year-end No. 1 finish, winning 35 of his final 38 matches on the year. During that stretch, the Serbian triumphed at Wimbledon, completed his Career Golden Masters in Cincinnati, and lifted the trophy at the US Open. In his final eight tournaments of the year, he failed to reach the final just once (Toronto).

And if his first match of the new campaign is any indicator, Djokovic is still trending upwards. Dzumhur, a three-time ATP Tour titlist, is one of the most consistent players on the circuit, using his speed to make ball after ball and force his opponents into making mistakes. But Djokovic was locked in from the first ball, redirecting shots side to side from the baseline, frustrating the World No. 47 throughout their encounter. It was as if he was suffocating Dzumhur, pushing him well behind the baseline and forcing the Bosnian to go for more than he wanted to or risk being dominated from the back of the court. 

Djokovic won an impressive 77 per cent of second-serve return points, taking the offensive immediately. The top seed also took care of his serve, not facing a break point in the match.

Djokovic’s next opponent, Fucsovics, beat Marius Copil 6-3, 6-2 in 72 minutes. The Hungarian saved all eight break points he faced to defeat the Romanian, whom he broke four times.

Did You Know?
Djokovic is approaching two different milestones in 2019. The Serbian is now just 13 match wins from reaching 850 at tour-level in his career. The World No. 1 is also just four titles from reaching No. 75.

Stan Wawrinka played impressive tennis in Doha on Tuesday to defeat World No. 11 and doubles partner Karen Khachanov 7-6(7), 6-4 in the first round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

It was a vintage performance from the former World No. 3, who used his backhand to outhit Khachanov, who was one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour at the end of the 2018 season. While third-seeded Khachanov won one more point than the World No. 66 in the match, Wawrinka saved all four break points he faced en route to his one-hour, 42-minute victory.

“I’m really happy. First match of the year, coming back to Doha after 10 years more or less, it was a great atmosphere tonight,” said Wawrinka, whose last appearance in Doha came in 2007, on the court. “I’m really happy to be here and to have a chance to play one more match tomorrow.”

It was a tantalising match-up the moment the draw was made in Qatar. And the level lived up to its billing, as both players showed little rust in their first match of the season. Wawrinka did especially well tactically off his backhand wing, consistently looping heavy cross-court angles, before smacking backhand winners down the line on the next ball. It wasn’t that Khachanov, who won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title two months ago at the Rolex Paris Masters, did not play well — Wawrinka was simply better and more consistent on the big points.

Wawrinka also beat Khachanov in two tie-breaks less than four months ago in St. Petersburg in their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. The Swiss has now saved nine of 11 break points he has faced against Khachanov. He will next face another big hitter in Chilean Nicolas Jarry, who defeated Robin Haase on Monday, for the first time. 

Sixth seed David Goffin was also eliminated, as Ricardas Berankis beat the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in two hours and 18 minutes. The Lithuanian will play Dusan Lajovic, who beat Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-6(5), for a spot in the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event.

In other action, fourth seed Marco Cecchinato got his season off to a good start with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph against qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Italian, who was victorious in Umag and Budapest last year, will next face Guido Pella, who ousted Cem Ilkel 7-6(1), 6-3.

Did You Know?
Wawrinka and Khachanov were on the same side of the net in Doha on Monday, falling short against Goffin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.