MEN'S DAY 3: Fritz fires warning with demolition job

Taylor Fritz dropped just five games to blitz into the Australian Open second round on Tuesday as he looks to build on a breakthrough 2024 and snap a long title drought by American men in Melbourne.

The world number four wasted little energy to swat aside Jenson Brooksby, who is on the way back from a doping suspension, 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 on John Cain Arena.

He will next play either Croat Borna Coric or Chile's Cristian Garin.

"I'm super happy with how the match went today," said Fritz, who made the quarter-finals last year and is fresh from helping the United States win the lead-up United Cup.

"It's never easy playing that first match in a Slam, there are some nerves, so I did a really good job shaking them off early and playing really solid.

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"I work really hard and I think a lot of that is shown in how I have been able to keep making improvements in the later stages of my career," he added.

Fritz came out of the blocks strongly on a warm day, breaking for 4-2 and again to wrap up the opening set in just 28 minutes.

His baseline game was far superior and he dominated the rallies, earning a double break for 4-0 in the second set.

There was no way back for a flailing Brooksby, who was contesting his first event at any level since the 2023 Australian Open.

Brooksby had surgery on both wrists in 2023 and subsequently served a 13-month doping ban for missing three tests over a 12-month period.

Fritz powered into the US Open final last year, losing to top-ranked Jannik Sinner, but it has been more than two decades since an American man made the decider in Australia.

That was Andre Agassi, when he won the title in 2003 to become the ninth American in the open era to lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.

Fritz is shaping as their best hope in years to rewrite the record books, with the 27-year-old also making the title match at the ATP Finals in 2024, again losing to Sinner.

Veteran Monfils downs big-serving Mpetshi Perricard in Melbourne epic

French veteran Gael Monfils battled through a five-set thriller to topple young countryman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the Australian Open on Tuesday as he enjoys a late-career resurgence.

The flamboyant 38-year-old became the oldest singles champion in ATP Tour history when he swept to victory at the Auckland Classic on Saturday.

He kept the momentum going against Mpetshi Perricard, 21, raising his arms in celebration after a 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 victory over 3hrs 46mins in the first round.

Monfils won the first two sets and should have wrapped it up in the third, when he had two match points against a player with one of the game's most lethal serves.

But Mpetshi Perricard, who has risen from 205 in the world at the start of 2024 to his current 30, fought back.

Ultimately, Monfils' experience paid off, keeping his cool to reach the second round in Melbourne for a 17th time.