Wawrinka and Goffin crash out of Australian Open
Big guns Stan Wawrinka and David Goffin have bombed out on a day of drama at the Australian Open.
Three-time grand slam champion Wawrinka was a second-round casualty on Thursday night after a heavy loss to unseeded American Tennys Sandgren.
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The ninth seed, who was late to declare his fitness for the grand slam he won in 2014, had no answer to the in-form Sangren in a 6-2 6-2 6-4 defeat.
Heading into Melbourne Park, the Swiss veteran hadn't played a competitive match in six months after suffering a serious knee injury.
Belgian seventh seed Goffin also crashed out on Thursday, losing to Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Goffin won the opening set but was edged out in a tight tiebreaker for the second set which proved pivotal in the gruelling heat.
Benneteau prevailed 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) in 2hr 54 min to claim his second win over Goffin in three encounters.
Goffin took the fourth set into a tiebreaker but left-hander Benneteau brought up two match points and claimed victory when the Belgian hit long.
Benneteau, who reached the third round in Melbourne for the fourth time, will next play Italy's 25th seed Fabio Fognini.
It was the first time Goffin had faced a Frenchman since Belgium lost to France 3-2 in the Davis Cup final in Lille in November.
Meanwhile, Juan Matin del Potro set up a mouthwatering third round clash with Tomas Berdych.
Del Potro dropped the third set to Russian Karen Kachanov, before prevailing 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.
Berdych also suffered a slight hiccup before beating Guillermo García-López in four sets.
Elsewhere, Austrian fifth seed Dominic Thiem fought back from two sets in arrears to out-muscle American qualifier Denis Kudla in a draining five-set classic.
The 24-year-old Thiem was staring down the barrel of a second-round boilover at the hands of the Kudla, ranked No.190 in the world, but found another gear to score a 6-7 (6-8) 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-3 win on Margaret Court Arena.
American 13th seed Sam Querrey couldn't progress to the last 32 for a fifth time, with the 30-year-old upset 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-2 by 80th-ranked Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
Fellow countryman Tim Smyczek fared no better, with 21st-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas dishing out a 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7-2) shellacking in a tick over two hours.
Argentine Nicholas Kicker, the five-set slayer of Australian Jordan Thompson, pushed past Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-2 7-5 1-6 7-5, while Novak Djokovic pushed past an exhausted Gael Monfils in four sets.
with agencies