With a healthy home crowd behind his back, Tasmanian Harry Bourchier progressed to the second round of the Launceston International with a 7-6 6-2 win over Canadian Filip Peliwo.
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Flanked by state tennis coaches Simon Youl and James Bolzonello, the 24-year-old Hobart prospect set the tone early with an ace on the first point and rarely looked back, running away with a dominant performance in the second set.
"I came out of the blocks pretty good, had quite a few break points on his serve and then ended up getting broken at 5-all with him at 6-5 serving for the first set - so I put myself in a bit of a pickle," he said.
"I just gave myself a lot of opportunities. I didn't take that many but they just kept reappearing, the opportunities up my end and then obviously you're going to take one after a while but I felt like I didn't let him in too much."
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He now takes on compatriot Max Purcell, who captured the country's hearts at the Australian Open last week with a run to the doubles final alongside Luke Saville.
Having faced Purcell as recently as December, losing to him in the Australian Open wildcard playoff, Bourchier has been working to right the wrongs of that encounter.
"There's a little bit of a different game style [compared to Peliwo]. I felt like [the playoff] wasn't a good match for me and come Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll be definitely gearing up and getting ready for that one.
"I was pretty passive last match. I've worked on a fair bit in the last month, obviously I wasn't too happy over that time of year and I've been consistently working on things that happened in that match, so I'm really looking forward to test out those weapons and see how I go."
Fellow Australians Calum Puttergill, Jacob Grills and Dayne Kelly also picked up wins on Monday, working their way into round two.
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Originally falling to 2019 Burnie International champion Steven Diez in qualifying, Puttergill made the most of his lucky loser elevation following Andrew Harris' withdrawal to defeat American Evan King 7-6 6-3.
Grills and Kelly muscled past countrymen Matthew Christopher Romios and Blake Ellis respectively while Alexander Crnokrak, Jeremy Beale and Maverick Banes were also knocked out.
Germany's Daniel Altmaier overcame Great Britain's Brydan Klein, who represented Australia until 2013, 7-5 7-6 in a fiery contest.
Winner of the 2007 Australian Open junior Grand Slam, 30-year-old Klein grew visibly frustrated at several line calls in the tight defeat.
In the women's qualifying draw, Australian duo Zara Brankovic and Olivia Symons joined Himaro Sato, Sohyun Park, Fangran Tian and Lisa Pigato as main-draw entrants while Jessica Fowler, Ellen Shanahan and Annerly Poulos were bundled out.
Main draw competition for the women's ITF competition gets underway Tuesday with the likes of Jaimee Fourlis and Destanee Aiava in action.
Tuesday's Order of Play
Centre Court
10.00am - R. Tanuma v T. Schoolkate, T. Fancutt v J. Kubler.
1.00pm - H. Bourchier - A. Santillan v S. Diez - M. Vervoort, Jacob Grills v Tung-Lin Wu.
5.00pm - D. Kelly v A. Bolt.
Court Two
10.00am - D. Aiava v L. Pigato, P. Badosa v O. Symons.
1.00pm - A. Bai v J. Fourlis.
3.00pm - Z. Brankovic - J. Fowler v A. Myers - B. Woodcock.
Court Three
10.00am - H. Heliovaara v M. Pervolarakis, A. Vavassori v D.Sweeny.
1.00pm - V. Galovic v D. Altmaier, L. Broady - F. Peliwo v Alternates, K. Coppejans - S. Martos Gornes v L. Margaroli - A. Vavassori.
Court Four
10.00 am - N.Tajima v B. Mott, M. Franco Descotte v T. Ito.
1.00pm - Y. Hanfmann v L. Caruana, J. Lenz v B. Lock, B. Klein - S. Puodziunas v N. Pasha - M. Schnur.
Court Five
10.00am - N. Hanatani v A. Myers, Z. Zlochova v G. Da Silva Fick.
1.00pm - J. Elie v N. Sato.
3.00pm - N. Djamshidi - F. Tian v A. Bozovic - A. Marshall.
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