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Alex de Minaur and James Duckworth have got off to winning starts at the ATP Tour's 250 series event in Mexico, both recording straight-sets wins.
Australians Alex de Minaur and James Duckworth have won their opening matches at the ATP event in Los Cabos, Mexico.
A day after compatriot Rinky Hijikata was beaten in straight sets by John Isner, fifth-seeded de Minaur needed an hour and 45 minutes to see off Tunisia's world No.296 Skander Mansouri 6-4 6-4.
"It wasn't pretty but normally starting a tournament never is," de Minaur said after booking a last-16 date with Argentina's Thiago Agustin Tirante.
"So happy to get through a battle and looking forward to playing tomorrow and hopefully bringing a better level."
After relinquishing an early break of serve in the seventh game, de Minaur broke again in the 10th to take the opening set.
The world No.19 lost his serve twice in the second to trail 4-3, but responded with two more breaks of his own to seal his progress to the round of 16.
Duckworth, currently ranked No.123 in the world, followed that up on Tuesday night with a 6-3 6-0 demolition of Finland's Otto Virtanen and next takes on seventh seed Dominik Koepfer.
The German was a 6-4 6-3 winner against Chile's Tomas Barrios Vera.
In Kitzbuhel, Chris O'Connell, the only Australian in the ATP 250 series' Generali Open, was eliminated in the opening round.
The Sydneysider went down 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to Serbia's world No.38 Laslo Djere.
Also in the Austrian tournament, home favourite Dominic Thiem scored a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (8-6) win over Argentina's Facundo Bagnis, while China's Zhizhen Zhang beat seventh seed Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-2.
