Seven locals will be chasing a third-round spot in the Australian Open on Wednesday, with Lleyton Hewitt urging them to make it count in Melbourne.

Hewitt became the 10th Australian to reach the second round on Tuesday night, downing Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze 6-3 1-6 6-0 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.

Hewitt’s clash on Rod Laver Arena was followed by Ajla Tomljanovic’s comeback win over Shelby Rogers, making it 11 locals through to the second round.

“It’s starting to get back like the good old days,” Hewitt said.

“It hasn’t really surprised me.”

Wimbledon quarter-finalists Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic headline the Australians in action on day three, while Thanasi Kokkinakis’ clash with Sam Groth means at least one local will progress.

Hewitt suggested they are good enough to do more than just that.

“They’ve had little flashes in the pan of quarter-finals, a couple of quarter-finals in slams. But they’ve got to try to do it on a more consistent basis now,” Hewitt said.

“They’ve got to keep kicking on now.

“It is only the first round. They’ve got to keep taking their opportunities.”

The 33-year-old former world No.1 backed the tyros to deliver under pressure.

“The young guys that have had a lot of pressure and expectation on them, they’ve handled it really well,” he said.

“Tomic, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, you know, obviously they have big futures.”

Kyrgios is up against 35-year-old Ivo Karlovic, the oldest man in the singles draw, while Tomic takes on German 22nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Marinko Matosevic meets British sixth seed Andy Murray, with James Duckworth confronting French 24th seed Richard Gasquet.

In women’s action, Jarmila Gajdosova feels she has nothing to lose against Romanian third seed Simona Halep.

Second seeds Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova face Simone Bolelli and Alexandra Panova respectively, while Rafael Nadal should make light work of Tim Smyczek.