THE sun shone on the two Americans in the Launceston International women's singles competition yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In conditions that would have reminded them of home, Florida's No .1 seed, Irina Falconi, and Californian Alexa Glatch recorded straight-sets wins.
For the second ITF tournament running, Falconi drew Australian Arina Rodionova in the first round, and although it was the same result as at Burnie last week, where she went on to make the final and win the doubles, the 24-year-old said it was hardly a routine result.
"It was a bit like a replay, but very tough playing someone a week after you've beaten them because you know they're going to be gunning for you," Falconi said after her 6-4, 6-1 win.
"I had to fight for every point and it was a tough game.
"I got to the finals last week and I want to keep going from that.
"It's a new week and new town - just live in the moment."
Falconi said she felt no extra pressure being the top seed.
"At the end of the day, it's just a number and on any given day everybody can beat anyone. It doesn't matter whether you are playing No. 2 or No. 5000, you've still got to compete.
"I lost in the first round here last year, so it's a step up from that."
Glatch prevailed 6-0, 7-5 in an erratic match against highly strung sixth-seeded Pole Katarzyna Piter.
After the first-set bagel, Piter took a lengthy toilet break and returned transformed for a second set that saw four consecutive service breaks.
"It was a very tough in that second set," said Glatch, who lost in the second round at Burnie to Falconi's doubles partner Petra Martic and came through three qualifying games to make the main draw in Launceston.
"Conditions were tricky and she started to really pick her game up. I let a lot of service games slip, but she fought really hard, and in my next match I need to make sure I don't let those points slip again."
Also recording a comfortable straight-sets win was Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, who defeated Japan's Ayaka Okuno 6-1, 6-0.
"I wanted to play here a couple of years ago, but it was on at the same time as the Pattaya Open in Thailand, where I am from, so I did that, but I did not do so well there and decided to change to this, and I'm glad I did," said the 23-year-old from Chiangmai.
"I love your city. The people are very nice and the city is bigger than Burnie. I've been able to find lots of different restaurants.
"There is a Thai restaurant here, but I've also been to Indian and Mexican."
Qualifier Nudnida Luangnam was another successful Thai yesterday, defeating China's Chang Liu in three sets to progress to a second-round clash with third-seeded Russian Daria Gavrilova, who saw off Japan's Erika Sema 6-0, 6-2.
The success of Chinese players continued with Yuxuan Zhang defeating Austrian Pia Konig to set up a commentator's nightmare in the second round where Zhang will play Yang while Wang takes on Wang.
In the men's competition, the tournament's sole Tasmanian, Kingston teenager Harry Bourchier, scored the biggest win of his career with a come-from-behind victory over Brit Brydan Klein 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Bourchier is through to his first ever ATP Challenger Tour quarter-final, where he will face Korean Hyeon Chung.