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Alexei Popyrin has made the most of his lucky-loser reprieve at the Cincinnati Open, where Max Purcell and Alex de Minaur have also enjoyed first-round wins.
Alexei Popyrin has kicked off a busy day for Australians at the ATP Tour's Cincinnati Open with a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-4 defeat of Germany's Daniel Altmaier.
Both players were in the draw as lucky losers and were determined to make the most of their good fortune, slugging it out for two hours 43 minutes.
With his round-of-32 opponent Nicolas Jarry withdrawing from the tournament to return to Chile for the birth of his second child, Popyrin now finds himself in the last 16.
His fellow Sydneysider Max Purcell overcame South Africa's Lloyd Harris 6-4 6-4.
Purcell, who beat Popyrin in qualifying before the latter's lucky-loser reprieve, will next face Norway's world No.5 Casper Ruud.
Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis will not be advancing though after both went down in tight three-setters.
Qualifier, and world No.55, Thompson took a set off top seed and world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz in their rain-interrupted round-of-32 clash, but was beaten 5-7 6-4 3-6.
In the process the Spaniard, and defending US Open champion, became the first ATP player to reach 50 wins this season.
"It wasn't an easy match but I found my best level at the end," Alcaraz said after his win in the final clash of the day.
"We were waiting around all day to play the match and then when you step on the court you have to start with the rain, so it wasn't easy.
"But you have to find a way to win these matches in this type of situation."
Kokkinakis fell to Poland's world No.20 Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-7 (1-7) in a three-hour, eight-minute epic.
The South Australian saved all eight of the break points he faced but could not live with a barrage of 13 aces from his big-serving opponent, who moves on to face defending champion Borna Coric of Croatia.
Coric battled past American Sebastian Korda 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 on Tuesday, wrapping up a match that began on Monday but was suspended due to bad weather.
Gunning for a first-ever place in the world's top 10, Alex de Minaur looked to be cruising through his round-of-64 clash with local J.J. Wolf, winning the first set 6-0.
But de Minaur, currently ranked 12th, dropped the second set 6-3 before responding in style against the world No.44 to take the third 6-1 and earn a tie against 36-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils.
De Minaur fired down seven aces in just shy of two hours to bring up his 11th win in 14 matches leading into the US Open, which starts this month.
Elsewhere, Emil Ruusuvuori eliminated seventh seed Andrey Rublev 7-6 (12-10) 5-7 7-6 (7-3), while Adrian Mannarino scored a 6-4-6-4 triumph over 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in two first round matches.
Taylor Fritz survived an epic first-set tiebreak to beat Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (16-14) 6-2.
Lorenzo Musetti beat Dan Evans 6-4 6-3, while Monfils overcame 13th seed Cameron Norrie 3-6 6-4 6-3 and Alexander Zverev eased to a 6-2 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov.
