Wimbledon champion Roger Federer put his shaky early season form behind him but the maelstrom of misery which has engulfed Greg Rusedski continued at the Australian Open.
British number two Rusedski had hoped to let his tennis do the talking after his positive test for nandrolone hogged all the headlines in the last two weeks.
But a lacklustre performance against 26th seed Albert Costa saw him eliminated 4-6 3-6 4-6 in the first round.
The Canadian-born left-hander blamed his performance on illness. "It was difficult because Saturday I had a fever and have had gastroenteritis," he said. "That's what made it difficult today, to be honest with you I had a heavy fever, it wasn't the ideal preparation."
Rusedski, who admitted earlier this month that he had tested positive for the banned steroid at a tournament in Indianapolis last July, says he will be cleared of any wrongdoing at a hearing in February.
But he insisted his off-court troubles had not affected him. "No, it had nothing to do with today. I've just got to wait and see how my tribunal goes, just go from there."
While Rusedski was left to rue his bad luck, Federer could reflect on a tidy performance against up-and-coming American Alex Bogomolov.
The Swiss second seed had looked far from convincing during the Kooyong International last week, losing to Andre Agassi and struggling against Thomas Johansson. On Tuesday everything clicked as he romped home 6-3 6-4 6-0.
Federer has yet to progress past the fourth round of the Australian Open in four previous visits to Melbourne but is the bookmakers' favourite this time round.
In other early action, 14th-seeded Czech Jiri Novak beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3 6-3 7-5 but 23rd seed Felix Mantilla fell. The Spaniard lost 5-7 1-6 6-7 to Thierry Ascione of France.
In early women's action, sixth-seeded Russian Anastasia Myskina beat Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-2 7-5 and 12th seed Paola Suarez beat fellow Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-2 6-2.
