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Thanasi Kokkinakis and fellow Australian Aleksandar Vukic have scored opening day wins at the Atlanta Open hard court tournament.

Thanasi Kokkinakis has overcome French star Gael Monfils to set up an Atlanta Open second-round clash with fellow Australian Alex de Minaur, the two-time and defending champion.

Kokkinakis came from 4-0 down in the deciding set tiebreaker to win 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7-5) on Monday, securing his first tour-level victory since reaching third round of the French Open.

"In a tiebreak you can go down quickly and can come back quickly. I got a point on his serve and then two on mine and all of a sudden he's feeling the pressure," Kokkinakis told atptour.com.

"It was pretty stressful, especially in the first set, which wasn't much fun. He posed a lot of challenges and he is one of the quickest players on tour. I can't get a ball by him most of the time."

Now he faces second seed de Minaur, who won this tournament in both 2019 and 2022.

"Demon and I are good mates. We share Davis Cup together, we train a little bit together," Kokkinakis said.

"He's a hell of a player and he's leading the way for us Aussies. He's the defending champion here in Atlanta so he obviously likes the conditions.

"I know it won't be easy. I practised with him the other day and he gave me a spanking. It should be a fun match."

Fellow Australian Aleksandar Vukic also advanced to the second round, beating American wildcard Ethan Quinn 7-6 (7-5) 6-3, but countryman James Duckworth went down to South African qualifier Lloyd Harris 3-6 6-3 6-2.