Daniil Medvedev stunned Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2 6-3 to make the second round, while lucky loser Ricardas Berankis struggled past Alex Bolt 5-7 7-5 6-4 to advance at the Sydney International.
Medvedev, who had to go through qualifying to advance to the main draw, made light work of the sixth seed as he won in an hour and nine minutes to make the second round.
The Russian hit eight aces and broke three times upon victory to secure a confidence boosting win before the Australian Open. However this loss will not help Kohlschreiber, who will be the 27th seed at next week’s tournament in Melbourne Park.
Medvedev will now play either an in-form Gilles Simon or Jared Donaldson in the next round.
Meanwhile Lithuanian Lucky Loser, Ricardas Berankis struggled past wildcard Alex Bolt, 5-7 7-5 6-4 in just under two hours. Berankis, who is using his protected ranking for the Australian Open next week, survived 21 aces from the Australian to advance to the second round.
Berankis held to love to grab the win and will face 5th seed Adrian Mannarino in the next round as he beat Evgeny Donskoy. The Frenchman won by the same scoreline as Berankis in a tough encounter against the Russian.
Mannarino produced a scrappy performance to claim victory in 2 hours and 20 minutes. The world number 28 will hope for a better performance when he takes on the Lithuanian in the second round.
The final result of the day saw John Millman battle past Alexei Popyrin 7-6(4) 6-0 in an hour and 20 minutes. Popyrin managed to beat top quality opposition in Qualifying when he defeated Federico Delbonis and Nicolas Mahut. However Millman was a step too far as the world number 127 only lost three points on his first serve to grab victory.
He will now play second seed Gilles Muller in the second round.
