He flattered to deceive. Just when it seemed that Andy Murray will come back from the dead and be on course for a fairytale swansong, Roberto Bautista Agut changed gears, and dumped the Briton out of the Australian Open.
The former number one, who is fighting a career-threatening hip injury, lost 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(4) 6-2 in an epic contest, which lasted a little over four hours.
Murray, who had announced that he will retire this season, gave his fans a glimmer of hope battling from two sets down to force the game into the fifth set. But Spain's Agut stormed to a 5-1 lead in the decider and soon served out the match.
Meanwhile, defending champion Roger Federer eased into the second round with a6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over Denis Istomin to win the first round encounter. The Uzbek played aggressively from the baseline, but Federer negated his game with his booming serves. Federer will now face British qualifier Dan Evans in the second round.
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Rafael Nadal, too, hardly broke any sweat in a clinical first round thumping, with fellow former champions Angelique Kerber and Maria Sharapova also romping through.
The 17-time Grand Slam winner, who cut short his 2018 season to have surgery on a foot injury, cruised into round two of the year's opening major 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 against Australian wildcard James Duckworth.
The Spanish second seed is bidding to become the first man in the Open era, and only third in history along with Roy Emerson and Rod Laver, to win each Grand Slam on two or more occasions.
Fifth seed Kevin Anderson also progressed against Adrian Mannarino, with last year's Wimbledon finalist a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 winner. NextGen Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas also went through in four sets.
Women's second seed Angelique Kerber swept past Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-2, 6-2, with the Wimbledon champion producing a clinical display to launch her campaign at a tournament she won in 2016.
Sharapova, a winner at Melbourne Park in 2008, signalled her intent with a rare 6-0, 6-0 double bagel demolition of Britain's Harriet Dart, who ended the match in tears.
Fifth seeded Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion who struggled in her warm-up tournaments in Brisbane and Sydney, got back to business with an easy two-set win against fellow American Taylor Townsend.
Eleventh seed Aryna Sabalenka, widely tipped as a potential future champion, also safely negotiated round one on a hot day.
But Germany's 14th seed Julia Goerges, who won the recent Auckland Classic, crashed out, as did former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
Britain's Katie Boulter, meanwhile, created a slice of history by becoming the first woman to win in a third set tiebreak—a new rule introduced to the Open this year.
Instead of playing to the death, third or fifth sets now go to a tie-break when the score reaches 6-6 and it becomes the first to 10.
It seemed Boulter wasn't told, fist-pumping and walking to the net at 7/4 before being reminded of the new rule. She went on to beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (10/6).
(With PTI inputs)
