Tennis: Duckworth beaten in Brisbane

James Duckworth of Australia plays a shot. Photo / Getty Image

Bernard Tomic is Australia's only men's hope remaining at the Brisbane International after wildcard James Duckworth went down in straight sets on Wednesday.

Duckworth was outclassed by Frenchmen Gilles Simon 6-3 7-5 in 89 minutes but, in the process, impressed with his tenacity to take the match up to the world No.12.

Simon started in ominous fashion with two thundering aces which unsettled the 19-year-old Sydneysider who was quickly down 0-3 in the opening set.

Yet Duckworth, who was playing only his second ATP tournament, did not crumple.

Even after dropping his opening serve in the second set, he broke back soon after and started to dictate terms, winning the ninth game on serve to love.

A stroke of luck presented Simon with a break point in the 11th game when a backhand pass clipped the net and dropped over to Duckworth's frustration.

The Frenchman pounced to quickly close out the match.

It was a valuable education for Duckworth who was ranked No.275 coming into the event and will climb about 20 places following his exit.

Simon meets either German Philipp Petzschner or Colombian Santiago Giraldo in a quarter-final.

Tomic will be fighting for a quarter-final berth when he takes on Japan's Ito Tatsuma in the opening night session match.

Top seed Andy Murray is also in action on Wednesday night when he meets Luxembourg's Gilles Muller in a second-round encounter.

Tour veteran Tommy Haas withdrew from his second-round clash because of injury but was hopeful he'd be fit to play the Australian Open.

Haas, 33, was due to play Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin but notified tournament officials on Wednesday morning that he was unfit because of a niggling right calf injury.

- AAP