Tennis fans will have to wait longer for a Nick Kyrgios-Thanasi Kokkinakis showdown with the former dumped out of the Cincinatti Masters in straight sets on Tuesday.
World No.37 Kyrgios was thrashed 6-2 6-1 by Richard Gasquet in the first round, ending dreams of a potential matchup between Australia's young guns in the second round.
The 12th-seeded Frenchman took just 56 minutes to brush aside Kyrgios, who was broken four times and produced seven double faults in a woeful second set.
Kyrgios was sanctioned by the ATP last week after a verbal dust-up at the Montreal Masters with French Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
The 20-year-old was fined $US10,000 ($A13,560) after courtside microphones caught him telling Wawrinka his Australian Davis Cup teammate Kokkinakis "banged your girlfriend".
Kyrgios complained of a back injury during the match and needed treatment on court before succumbing to defeat.
It was not a good day for Australian men's tennis with Bernard Tomic also bowing out in straight sets.
The world No.24 was eliminated by Ukrainian qualifier and world No.66 Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round, losing 6-4 6-1.
It was hardly the preparation Kyrgios and Tomic were hoping for ahead of the US Open in less than a fortnight.
Meanwhile Roger Federer shook off the rust in his first match since losing the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic by beating Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4 6-4.
The 34-year-old said he needed time to adjust again to match conditions after his hiatus.
"It was a good win for me, it can only get tougher from here," said Federer, seeking a record seventh title here.
"I haven't played in a long time and I felt a bit rusty at times in the first set. I need matches right now, so it was good to start well here.
"I'm happy I got through this first one. Now I know what it's about.
"I have a day off tomorrow where I can think about how things went today, where I need to improve."
US Open winner Marin Cilic, the seventh seed, beat Joao Sousa 6-4 6-2 while Spain's Feliciano Lopez stopped Canadian Milos Raonic 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 as the ninth seed lost an opening match for the second straight week.
Sam Querrey put out John Isner 6-3 7-6 (7/3) and South African 15th seed Kevin Anderson defeated Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (7/5) 3-6 6-1.
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