Alcaraz, Zverev march on as men's seeds dominate Open

Zverev's 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win over fellow German Dominik Koepfer ensured at least 29 seeds would make the last 64 at Melbourne Park.

Alcaraz's 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-2 defeat of French veteran Richard Gasquet in Tuesday's feature night match on Rod Laver Arena then made it 30 protected seeds to progress to round two.

Since 2001 Wimbledon, when grand slam draws moved from 16 to 32 seeded players, no more than 29 men's seeds had progressed to the second round of a major.

The previous high-water mark was recorded on five occasions: at the US Open in 2001 and 2015, and at Melbourne Park in 2005, 2009 and 2014.

Now the Australian Open has set a new benchmark, with Chile's Nicolas Jarry and Kazakh Alexander Bublik the two men's seeds to bow out of the over the first three days.

In taking out world No.31 Bublik 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7-5) on Tuesday, Sumit Nagal became the first Indian man to beat a seeded player at a slam since 1989.

Having never made it past the round of 16 at the season-opening major, 11th seed Casper Ruud advanced with a 6-1 6-3 6-1 win over Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Margaret Court Arena.

The Norwegian took just over two hours to dispatch the former world No.17 as the temperature soared past 30C.

Ruud came into the Open in hot form, winning all three of his singles matches for Norway at the United Cup.

But the 2022 and 2023 French Open and 2022 US Open runner-up's past performances in Melbourne remain a black mark on his record.

Ruud's best result came in 2021 when he retired in the fourth round against Russian Andrey Rublev with an abdominal injury and he was stunned last year in the second round by American Jenson Brooksby.

The 26-year-old Oslo native acknowledged he was yet to make a deep run at the Open but said a few pre-season tweaks, including changing his physiotherapist, had him primed to change that.

"So hopefully 2024 we can turn that around," Ruud said.

Ruud will face world No.45 Max Purcell next up after the Australian held off Hungarian qualifier Mate Valkusz 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 7-5.

"He's a tricky player. I lost to him in Cincinnati (last August)," Ruud said.

Ruud remains on course for a third-round clash with in-form Brit Cameron Norrie, who smashed 30 winners past Peru's Juan Pablo Varillas on his way to a 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory.

World No.8 Rune, who has also never been past the fourth round at Melbourne Park, was made to work in his 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.

The Dane hit a whopping 71 winners during the centre-court clash on Rod Laver Arena, advancing to the second round at his fifth slam in six starts and tallying his 99th career win.

French wildcard Arthur Cazaux awaits Rune in the next round after he won a five-set thriller over Serbian world No.33 Serbian Laslo Djere.

Elsewhere, Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov battled back to down Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 and Adelaide International winner Jiri Lehecka eased past Spain's Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-3 6-2 6-3.

American 14th seed Tommy Paul defeated France's Gregoire Barrere 6-2 6-3 6-3, while Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor overcame a two-set deficit to tame Russian Roman Safiullin 2-6 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 7-5.

Australian Associated Press