Alex de Minaur could not be deflected by either rain showers or a determined compatriot as he began his assault on Wimbledon’s grass citadel with a straight sets victory.
James Duckworth provided obdurate opposition, but despite forcing a trio of tie-breaks, Australia’s No.8 could not take a set off the national No.1.
With his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt watching on, de Minaur won 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4).
A few yards away on the swathe of outside courts another Australian also progressed. Alexei Popyrin defeated Thiago Monteiro in four sets in just over 2½ hours.
Adam Walton followed them into the second round with a straight sets victory over Federico Coria, his first ever grand slam win.
But two Aussie men went out, Rinky Hijikata and Chris O’Connell, while there were also defeats for Ajla Tomljanovic and Olivia Gadecki, leaving Daria Saville as the last Australian woman in the singles.
While the dogged Duckworth gave de Minaur a useful work-out, his resistance will have been frustrating. Combined with the inclement weather it kept the ninth seed occupied for much of the day.
Beginning at 11am local time (8pm AEST Tuesday) the match did not finish until nearly 4.30pm, despite taking barely three hours to play.
One shower arrived just after de Minaur had taken the first set, the second with the third-set tie-break poised at 2-0 to de Minaur.
When they returned, around an hour later, de Minaur sealed victory within five minutes, Duckworth going long on the third match point.
Duckworth had his chances. He broke in all three sets, and had served for the second set at 5-4 and the third at 5-3. But both times de Minaur showed his class to break back.
“It’s never easy playing a fellow Aussie, playing Ducks who’s a great grass court player,” said de Minaur.
