Melbourne (AFP) - Sebastian Korda -- whose dad Petr won the 1998 Australian Open -- bounced back Monday from Covid isolation to make British 12th seed Cameron Norrie the biggest casualty so far in Melbourne.
The 21-year-old American, ranked 43 and one of the ATP Tour's brightest prospects, won convincingly 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in just over 100 minutes on day one of the opening Slam of the year.
It was a remarkable effort by Korda, who was forced to withdraw from two warm-up events in Adelaide after testing positive for Covid-19 and was confined to his hotel room.
"I tested two days before I came to Australia, day before I came and then on arrival I had a positive test," Korda said.
"Luckily no symptoms, which was great for me, and Tennis Australia gave me a couple of gym equipment in the room so I wouldn't just sit around and kind of do nothing."
Korda had too much for Norrie in only their second encounter, having beaten the Briton in the semi-finals at Delray Beach in the United States last year.
He broke Norrie's serve five times, fought off three break points on his own serve and hit 25 winners with just 27 unforced errors.
"I didn't get a lot of preparation, didn't get any matches under my belt," Korda said of his disrupted build-up.
Korda, who comes from a family of sports stars, faces Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the second round.
"A lot of history in the family here in Australia, my dad winning here and then both my sisters (Jessica and Nelly) winning the Australian women's golf tournament," Korda said.
"So it's lots of success in Australia and I'm always super happy to be here."
Norrie admitted he wasn't in the fight against Korda.
"Korda is a great player.He was too good for me today," Norrie said.
"I was just disappointed with my performance and the way I executed, but I had a great attitude and tried as hard as I could, and right to the last point.
"I think he's got a pretty complete game, serves very well."
