Kyrgios does it easy at Australian Open

With the help of his lethal serve, Nick Kyrgios has crashed his way into the second round of the Australian Open, defeating Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia in action against Rogerio Dutra Silva.

Nick Kyrgios has maintained his perfect record in the first round of the Australian Open. (AAP)

Nick Kyrgios has overcome first-night nerves to maintain his perfect record in the first round of the Australian Open.

Australia's top hope of ending a 40-year wait for a home-grown winner at Melbourne Park eased into the second round with a 6-1 6-2 6-4 win over Brazilian opponent Rogerio Dutra Silva.

Kyrgios blew the world No.100 away with 16 aces, peaking at 217 kilometres an hour, but admitted anxiety as he took to Hisense Arena.

"I went out there pretty nervous," he said.

"I know I'm hitting the ball well. But to go out there in front of the crowd again, just trying to play well, I was a bit nervous.

"I loosened up a little bit in the third set ... still managed to get it done."

Kyrgios played without strapping on his troubled knee and, crucially for his injury issues, got off court in just 95 minutes.

Kyrgios' four matches on the way to the Brisbane International title means he's played more competitive tennis than most of his Open rivals.

Having backed off his training since arriving at Melbourne Park, the quick dismissal of Dutra Silva allows his trainers to maintain control of his workload in the early stages of the fortnight-long event.

"If I had a five-set battle as well, I'd also take it as a positive," Kyrgios said.

"With me, I'd like to get on and off the court as quick as possible, save my body for the later rounds."

His next assignment will be against Viktor Troicki on Wednesday after the Serbian denied Australian Alex Bolt wildcard in five sets on day one of the Open.

Kyrgios is likely to find the going tougher against the world 31-year-old world No.65.

In the first two sets on Monday, Kyrgios showed all the hallmarks of the maturing player he has pledged to become.

He cruised through the opening set in under half an hour, slamming seven aces and making just seven unforced errors.

His often-controversial interactions with the chair umpire were limited to a request to quieten the crowd.

Kyrgios had offered an audible obscenity to a rowdy member of the crowd, telling him to "shut the f*** up", which earned him a code violation.

Dutra Silva snapped Kyrgios' seven-game winning streak early in the second set, holding to make the score 2-1, but was only just clinging on.

The 23-minute second set was even quicker, with Kyrgios making just six errors of any kind.

The 33-year-old found his serving rhythm in the third set but came unstuck in the seventh game, dropping to 0-40 on serve and handing a break to Kyrgios.

Smelling blood, the Canberran closed the match out on his next service match, his fifth-straight first-round success at Melbourne Park.


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Source: AAP


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