Mannarino battles back

Sydney : Fifth seed Adrian Mannarino booked his place in the second round of the Sydney International with a hard-fought win over Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy.

The Frenchman was broken twice as he lost the first set but rallied to grind out a 5-7 7-5 6-4 win over the world number 71 after two hours and 20 minutes of action.

Lucky loser Ricardas Berankis seized his second chance with a 5-7 7-5 6-4 win over Australian wild card Alex Bolt, while there were also wins for Daniil Medvedev and John Millman.

At the ASB Classic in Auckland, seventh seed David Ferrer booked his place in round two with a 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 win over China’s Yibing Wu.

Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut eased past wild card Michael Venus 6-2 6-1, and Portugal’s Joao Sousa needed two hours to dispatch Donald Young 6-7 (8) 6-4 6-2.