Jordan Thompson and James Duckworth have continued the surge of local success with round-one wins in the Australian Open lead-in events at Melbourne Park.
The pair joined a group of six Australian men who have tasted success so far this week in the two ATP tournaments, along with Chris O’Connell, Jason Kubler, Aleksandar Vukic, Max Purcell, Alex Bolt and Harry Bourchier.
World No.52 Thompson, who has spent the past month training in Canberra with Nick Kyrgios, downed Italian Gianluca Mager 4-6 6-4 6-3.
He will next face Frenchman Pierre-Herbert Hughes.
Duckworth also got the better of Czech Tomas Machac 6-3 6-4 to set up a second-round meeting with another French player, world No.32 Ugo Humbert.
Earlier, controversial American Tennys Sandgren overcame Australian John-Patrick Smith and his own temper to book his second round berth.
A two-time quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park, Sandgren berated himself, screaming “I hate this stupid sport”, before going on to secure a 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory over local wildcard Smith.
He also broke a racquet during the third set to earn a code violation.