Reality struck for the Otago players at the national championships in Albany yesterday as all four were bundled out in straight sets after successfully playing through qualifying.
Mitchell Sizemore lost 6-1, 6-0 to Marcus Daniell, who has won several ATP Tour titles and won $US370,000 ($NZ514,000) on the world circuit this year.
Aucklander Connor Williamson allowed Ryan Eggers only one game also while Paddy Ou went down 6-2, 6-1 to 11th-ranked New Zealander Victor Romero (North Harbour). Aaron Hicks, an Auckland student who has been representing Otago, was beaten 6-0, 6-2 by Sebastian Lavie.
Riki McLachlan, of Queenstown, beat Wellington junior Finley Hall 6-4, 6-1 in his first match while brother Ben had a first-round bye and meets Wellington player Trent Massam today in the round of 16.
Sizemore will play Aucklander Sam Heslin in the consolation event while Carlos Reid plays Ed Batt from Canterbury. Ou will meet Chris Zhang (Auckland) and Eggers plays the winner of James Watt (South Canterbury) and Flynn Crackett (Auckland).
Hicks awaits the winner of Josh McDermott, from Queenstown, and Harry Browning, from North Harbour.
Hicks and former Dunedin student Alex Low lost 6-4, 6-3 to Nelson brothers Alex and James Hunt in their first-round doubles.
The Hunts were then eliminated 6-2, 6-1 by Ben McLachlan and Finn Tearney, who are looking to confirm automatic entry to the ASB Classic in January by winning in Albany.
Sizemore and Reid outplayed sixth-seeded Aucklanders Jackson Bodle and Nicholas Burnie 6-3, 6-0 to progress to the quarterfinals. Their reward will be to meet multiple ATP tour title winners and top seeds Daniell and Artem Sitak, who have played Davis Cup for New Zealand.
Ou and Eggers lost 6-1, 6-4 to seventh seeds Zac Whaanga and Olly Sadler (Wellington).
Riki McLachlan and Finn Reynolds, won the first round against Milo Benn and Tim Heslin.
