As players were still digesting the withdrawal of top seed James Duckworth with an elbow injury, Matthew Barton threw another spanner in the works by eliminating Jordan Thompson.

The all-Australian clash was the first match on centre court at the regional tennis centre and a good crowd was treated to an excellent contest.

Having won a tight first set 7-5, Barton produced two timely aces to deny Thompson the same result in the second set.

Thompson edged a close tie-break to level the match but an early break was enough for Barton to take the decider 6-4.

‘‘He’s the No.2 seed and a very good player so that’s a really good win,’’ said Barton, who won the Adelaide Challenger in 2013.

‘‘That’s a great start to the tournament for me and I’m pretty happy with it. I really didn’t expect that.’’

The 24-year-old Sydneysider equalled his performance in last year’s Launceston International and said he was benefitting from his time at an ATP tournament in Auckland where he lost to experienced veteran David Ferrer.

‘‘I think I played a part in getting him ready,’’ Barton said of the Spaniard’s subsequent run through to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

Another early winner on day one was Canadian Filip Peliwo, who beat New Zealander Finn Tearney, but said it was not as easy as 6-2, 6-3 sounds.

‘‘I felt I was in control for the whole match but there were a lot of tough points,’’ said the 22-year-old who made all four grand slam junior finals in 2012, winning Wimbledon and the US Open.

‘‘I’m very happy with my performance because he’s a tough player and has done well in the last few tournaments and shot up in the rankings.

‘‘I had to bring a solid game to take it up to him.’’

Women’s qualifying wrapped up on Monday with the main draw beginning on Tuesday.