IN a wild first day of ATP Tour action at Houston, three of the four seeds out on court have already been bundled out. The 250k fantasy tennis tournament saw the bottom half of the first round completed with second seed and tournament favourite, Cristian Garin bowing out to one of the other contenders in Brit, Andy Murray.

It was a horror first round draw for Garin who copped the Grand Slam winner on return, and despite winning the first set never quite looked completely comfortable. The Brit got on top in the second set with a crucial break and ended up winning the set 6-4, then after some see-sawing moments, took out the clay court specialist in about two and a half hours, 4-6 6-4 7-5.

It was not the only shock exit of day one though, with fourth seed Taylor Fritz, and seventh seed, John Isner bowing out. Fritz lost to Italian, Lorenzo Sonego 6-3 6-4 as he booked a safe passage through to the second round, while Isner lost at the hands of fellow American, Sam Querrey. In a tight contest that saw Isner win the first set, it was Querrey who stepped up in the second set, and ran away with the contest in the third to win, 4-6 6-4 6-1 in just over two hours.

After an impressive run here last year, Serbian wildcard, Janko Tipsarevic was sent packing by fifth seed, Jan-Lennard Struff. The German proved too good for the out of form and returning Serb, winning 7-5 6-2. Also through to the next round were a couple of unseeded players in Alijaz Bedene and Jeremy Chardy. Bedene knocked out United States’ Steve Johnson to continue a disappointing day for the home nation, while Chardy accounted for Colombian qualifier, Daniel Elahi Galan.

The remaining two winners were South African wildcard, Kevin Anderson who defeated Spaniard, Roberto Carballes Baena in a come-from-behind 4-6 7-5 6-1 victory, while Spanish qualifier Marcel Granollers knocked off Frenchman Lucas Pouille in three sets, 7-6 5-7 6-3.

In tomorrow’s day two action, clay court specialist, Laslo Djere takes on number one seed, Karen Khachanov, while a host of potential title contenders in seeds, Dusan Lajovic, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Casper Ruud all take to centre stage throughout the day.

ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

Andy Murray (GBR) defeated [2] Cristian Garin (CHI) 4-6 6-4 7-5
Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) defeated [4] Taylor Fritz (USA) 6-3 6-4
[5] Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) defeated [WC] Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 7-5 6-2
Sam Querrey (USA) defeated [7] John Isner (USA) 4-6 6-4 6-1
[Q] Marcel Granollers (ESP) defeated Lucas Pouille (FRA) 7-6 5-7 6-3
[WC] Kevin Anderson (RSA) defeated Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 4-6 7-5 6-1
Alijaz Bedene (SLO) defeated Steve Johnson (USA) 6-4 6-1
Jeremy Chardy (FRA) defeated [Q] Daniel Elahi Galan (COL) 6-3 6-3