German hopes at the Australian Open rest solely on Olympic champion Alexander Zverev: As the penultimate German tennis professional in the individual competitions, Philipp Kohlschreiber retired in Melbourne this Thursday.

The 38-year-old experienced a violent second-round defeat against the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who was 15th, with a score of 1: 6, 0: 6, 3: 6.

Kohlschreiber had a weak day and had no chance.

After only 1:28 hours of play, the former top 20 player, now number 134 in the world, had to congratulate the Spaniard Bautista Agut.

44 unforced errors by the oldest player left in the men's field were far too many against the consistent Spaniard.

In the first round, Kohlschreiber won in three sets against Italian Marco Cecchinato 6: 4, 7: 5, 7: 6 (7: 0).

Eleven out of twelve Germans are out

From the initially twelve German tennis professionals - nine men and three women - only Zverev is represented in the field of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.

The third in the world rankings from Hamburg meets Radu Albot from Moldova as the clear favorite on Friday.

In Australia, the 24-year-old is aiming for his first Grand Slam title.

After all, there was a German success in doubles.

The Davis Cup players Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer prevailed 6: 3, 6: 3 against the Serbs Filip Krajinovic and Matej Sabanov.

In the individual game, Struff had already finished in round one and Koepfer in round two.

In the women's category, neither Angelique Kerber nor Andrea Petkovic nor Tatjana Maria survived their first-round task.

The women's competition experienced a surprise on Thursday with the second round elimination of the Spanish world number three Garbiñe Muguruza.

The 28-year-old world-class tennis player surprisingly lost against unseeded French player Alizé Cornet 3:6, 3:6.

Former Wimbledon and French Open winner Muguruza was in the final of the Australian Open two years ago.

Another top ten player eliminated in the second round was Estonian Anett Kontaveit.

The seventh in the world rankings lost to the 19-year-old Danish Clara Tauson 2: 6, 4: 6.