Adelaide Open: Andy Murray begins 2023 with a first-round loss as Novak Djokovic gets off to a strong start

At the 2022 Gijon Open, Korda, who is 13 years Murray's junior and 22 years old, had won their lone prior encounter.

The 6'5" American, who is ranked 33rd in the world and 16 spots ahead of the British number four, repeated that victory in an hour and 56 minutes with a 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory.

The Scot has said that if he decides his time is up, he may declare his retirement at any time.

At the Laver Cup, Murray declared that he would not want a sendoff like Roger Federer.

“Look, I’m really not thinking about that right now,” Murray said.

“I certainly won’t and don’t deserve to have a sendoff like that. Roger did deserve that night, and it was super special having all of those guys there, you know, watching on the side of the court, and having them there made it really special.

As he opened the 2023 season with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Frenchman Constant Lestienne at Adelaide International 1, Novak Djokovic showed little evidence of any rustiness.

Even though Djokovic had never met the Frenchman before, he would always be the favourite in this match.

Lestienne's play was praised by the former World no.1 as he enjoyed the triumph in Adelaide.

"For the first match, I can't complain," Novak Djokovic said. "I played very well. I thought the first six games were very competitive and I have never faced him before. He is a counterpuncher; he doesn't make too many mistakes. He has a tricky serve, hits his spots. But once I made that break at 3-2 in the first set, I thought I stepped it up and played really good tennis for the rest of the match."

The Serbian will next face Quentin Halys of France, who overcame Australian wildcard Jordan Thompson to advance to the round of 16, where he will face a legendary player.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">STAT OF THE DAY❗<br><br>🇷🇸 <a href="https://twitter.com/DjokerNole?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DjokerNole</a> has now won his last 30 matches in a row in Australia after a 6-3, 6-2 victory over France&#39;s Constant Lestienne in his opening match in Adelaide today. 💪<br><br>Djokovic has also won 48 of his last 50 matches in Australia, and 73 of his last 76. 💥</p>&mdash; TENNIS (@Tennis) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tennis/status/1610128893507149824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Before Lorenzo Sonego's injury early in the second set, third-seeded Daniil Medvedev was headed for a close and challenging match with the Italian.

When Sonego was forced to retire, Medvedev was up 2-1 after edging him out in the tiebreaker in the opening set.

On his route to winning the opening set in what he called a wild match, the Russian had to contend with nine break points.