Dominic Thiem cruised through the first round of the Madrid Open in straight sets on Thursday, while former winner Andy Murray suffered an early exit.

Thiem, who has twice finished as runner-up at this event, made short work of Britain's Kyle Edmund in a 6-4 6-1 win to set up a second-round meeting with fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Austrian won 86 per cent of points on his first serve (24 of 28) and saved all four break points against him as Edmund just could not get himself into the contest.

Elsewhere, Murray, who claimed titles in Madrid in 2008 and 2015, could not embark on another such run, with the veteran dispatched by Andrea Vavassori in a 6-2 7-6 (9-7) defeat.

The Italian was particularly dominant at the net against Murray, winning 13 of 17 such points, while the 35-year-old managed just five of 14.

Qualifier Roman Safiullin saw off a fightback from Chile Open winner Nicolas Jarry to progress 6-2 3-6 6-3, setting up a clash with Tommy Paul in the second round, while Dusan Lajovic followed up his win at the Srpska Open by beating Jason Kubler 6-3 6-3. 

Novak Djokovic took just an hour and 15 minutes to win his first singles match in Australia since 2021, beating Constant Lestienne 6-3 6-2 at the Adelaide International on Tuesday.

Djokovic – who saw a three-year visa ban lifted in November – played with Vasek Pospisil in the doubles on Monday, but this was his first singles outing in the country since his vaccine-related absence from last year's Australian Open.

"For the first match [of the season] I can't complain," Djokovic said. "I played very well. I thought the first six games were very competitive and I have never faced him before.

"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."

Elsewhere in Adelaide, third seed Daniil Medvedev advanced after Lorenzo Sonego retired hurt with the Russian leading by a set, while sixth seed Jannik Sinner eased past Kyle Edmund 6-3 6-2.

Seventh seed Denis Shapovalov is also through after coming from a set down to beat Rinky Hijikata, but fourth seed Andrey Rublev is out after losing to Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets.

The Spaniard will face Sebastian Korda next after he beat Andy Murray 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, while eighth seed Karen Khachanov advanced after beating Pedro Cachin 6-2 6-4. 

At the Maharashtra Open in Pune, Aslan Karatsev had no problems seeing off Pablo Andujar 6-1 6-3, with the eighth seed set to face Tim van Rijthoven in the last 16 after the Dutchman beat Radu Albot 6-4 6-4.

There were also wins for Maximilian Marterer against Elias Ymer and Pedro Martinez against Ramkumar Ramanathan.

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