Alex de Minaur has enjoyed the perfect launch to his latest bid to reach a grand slam final with an encouraging win over Argentina's Roman Andres Burruchaga.
The Australian No.1 was stretched by an hour-long opening set but once he shook off his nerves, got his feet moving and found his groove, he raced to victory on Tuesday.
Winning 12 games out of 13 after the first set tiebreak, the 27-year-old earned a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-0 victory, wrapping up the final two sets in 52 minutes.
"A little bit of a nervy start," said the fifth seed.
"Never easy starting an incredible tournament like Wimbledon, but as the match went on, I played better and better.
"I love being here. It's about getting started and I'm glad I got through that.
"I love these courts. I am at my most dangerous when I am aggressive and it's up to me to be aggressive."
That was recognition that he was initially too passive, quickly finding himself 3-0 down against a resourceful opponent who belied the South American cliche of clay court-bred baselining.
It was 40 years and a day since Burruchaga's father, Jorge, scored the winning goal in the 1986 World Cup final, a 3-2 victory for Argentina over West Germany, and on his Wimbledon main draw debut the son seemed to draw inspiration from history.
De Minaur scrapped his way to a tiebreak and, helped by a lucky net cord and Burruchaga double-faulting at 4-4, he managed to win it.
That released the nerves and de Minaur, seizing the initiative, ran away with the tie to book a second-round date with idiosyncratic French southpaw Adrian Mannarino.
Alex de Minaur had luck on his side here 🍀 pic.twitter.com/7Hy61YXG6I
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 30, 2026
Ranked 40, the 38-year-old is a dangerous opponent on grass, but de Minaur has a 5-1 win record against him.
Besides Maya Joint's famous victory over Serena Williams, there were two other Australian winners to make it a quintet into the second round after Daria Kasatkina's success on Monday.
Both were reward for persistence. James Duckworth, playing his 13th Wimbledon, including four failed attempts to qualify, won a main-draw match for the fourth time, beating Tallon Griekspoor 6-4 4-6 7-5 6-4.
The 34-year-old Sydneysider next faces ninth seed Flavio Cobolli or Mariano Navone. Their match was suspended as darkness fell with the French Open finalist two sets to one up.
Kim Birrell, 28, is enjoying a career blossoming after years being dogged by injury. Having raised eyebrows by defeating Jessica Pegula in Paris earlier this month for a stunning first French Open success, she won at Wimbledon for the first time.
The Gold Coast resident defeated Russian qualifier Alina Korneeva 6-3 0-6 6-2 and will now meet Romanian 17th seed Sorana Cirstea.
However, the other six Australians in action on day two all lost making eight fallers in all at the first hurdle after Adam Walton and Aleksandar Vukic lost.
Rinky Hijikata had been one set-all and 5-3 up in the third against Dutchman Jesper de Jong when dew and poor light forced a suspension on Monday night.
Upon the lunchtime resumption Hijikata took the third 7-5, but lost the next two sets 6-4 6-3 to suffer a bleak loss.
There was heartbreak, though, for Thanasi Kokkinakis who twice led 10th seed Alexandre Bublik only to fade away, losing 4-6 6-3 6-7 (10-12) 6-3 6-4.
Bublik Survives 1st Round EPIC 😮💨#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/DEmFum20Dt
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 30, 2026
When the South Australian won a gripping 22-point third set tiebreaker it seemed a notable victory was in his grasp, but in the final hour of a 3:39 duel the Kazakh proved too consistent.
Alja Tomljanovic had a shock 6-2 2-6 6-4 loss to Georgian qualifier Mariam Bolkvadze, ranked 545 and playing her first grand slam match since 2019, and her third ever.
After a torrid opening set Talia Gibson fought back to level against 21st-seed Marie Bouzkova, but the Czech prevailed 6-1 3-6 6-2.
Qualifier Dane Sweeny also battled hard but found veteran Grigor Dimitrov just too smart on grass. The Bulgarian, who was on the brink of defeating eventual winner Jannik Sinner last year before suffering injury, won 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 7-5.
Alexei Popyrin lost more tamely, 6-4 6-2 6-4 to 13th-seed Jiri Lehecka.
