Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet have stalled the local charge with straight-sets defeats of Marinko Matosevic and James Duckworth at the Australian Open.

Bidding to become the first Australian through to the third round, Duckworth went down 6-2 6-3 7-5 to Gasquet, the tournament’s 24th seed, before sixth seed Murray stopped Matosevic 6-1 6-3 6-2 on Wednesday.

Five fellow Australians have the chance to atone later on day three, with long-time standard bearer Lleyton Hewitt urging them to seize the moment at Melbourne Park.

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

Hewitt, into the second round for the 12th time, said the emerging stars were good enough to kick on and go deep in the draw.

“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 plays British sixth seed Andy Murray.

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