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Defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner is through to the second round after his first-round opponent, Hugo Gaston, retired in tears after going two sets down. The Frenchman trailed 6-2, 6-1 on the Rod Laver Arena before calling it quits.

It is unclear what caused Gaston to retire, but he did have a fall earlier in the match. The 25-year-old was seen sitting courtside with his head in his hands before leaving the court to applause from the spectators.

And Sinner showed his true colours in the post-match interview - wishing his opponent a full recovery while praising his talent. He said: "I saw that he was not serving with a very high pace, especially in the second set. It's not the way you want to win the match.

"He's such a delicate player, he has incredible touch, moves very well so I knew starting from the beginning that I had to play very high-level tennis, trying to be as aggressive as possible.

"I am very happy to be back here, it is a very special place for me. Thanks for coming. The atmosphere is always amazing."

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TNT Sports pundit and former British tennis star Tim Henman shared his belief that Gaston's retirement may have been due to illness. The former Wimbledon semi-finalist said: "We did see the trainer and the doctor come on the court and they gave Gaston some pills that he swallowed and just at the end when he said to Sinner that he couldn't continue, I thought he sort of made some gesture to his stomach.

"So I don't know whether he was not feeling his best, we obviously referred to [Flavio] Cobolli, who wasn't feeling well against Arthur Fery, so I don't know if there's a little bit of a bug going round. It was unexpected, I don't necessarily think it altered the outcome of that match.

"Sinner was absolutely magnificent with his ball striking. Gaston had those three break points in the first game at 0-40 that might have given the first set a different complexion if he could have broken serve, but it was always going to be an uphill battle for Hugo Gaston."

Sinner is looking to join Novak Djokovic as the only male player to win three consecutive Australian Open singles titles in the open era. The Italian will face Croatian Dino Prizmic or Australian wild card James Duckworth in the next round.