Tsitsipas left surprised with easy victory over Simon

Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was left surprised by the ease with which he stormed past veteran Frenchman Gilles Simon during a 6-1 6-2 6-1 thrashing to open his Australian Open campaign on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Greek seemed to have taken a cue from women's world number one Ash Barty, who handed a double bagel to Danka Kovinic in 44 minutes in the previous match under the lights on the Rod Laver Arena.

Tsitsipas, who came into the Grand Slam opener with straight-sets wins against Alex de Minaur and Roberto Bautista Agut in the ATP Cup, took one hour and 32 minutes for his win to bring the curtain down unusually early on the main showcourt.

The 2019 Melbourne Park semi-finalist barely broke sweat and did not face a break point against the 36-year-old Simon, who is ranked 66th in the world.

"I don't know what to say. I obviously wasn't expecting...