The Adelaide International main draw kicked off on Monday, with three Aussies securing their passage into the next round.
Local favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis commenced his new season with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 triumph over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
The world No.77 withdrew from the Brisbane International last week due to a hip injury, but recovered to partake in his preferred event on the calendar.
Three years ago, the 27-year-old won his maiden ATP title in his home city.
It was a fairly routine opening set for Kokkinakis, described by commentator Mark Petchey as a "virtually flawless set" conceding just four points on serve.
Despite a hiccup in the second set, the South Australian pulled through with flying colours — securing two breaks of serve to run away with the win.
"First of all, all sold out here, thank you so much for coming. I don't want to play anywhere else," Kokkinakis said moments after the match.
When jokingly asked if he had peaked too early in the first set, Kokkinakis said: "It's tough, I never like when it's going too well because I'm just waiting for something bad to happen, and it kind of did. I knew when I didn't take those break chances, it could've been a straight sets match, but that's tennis."
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2022 finalist Arthur Rinderknech packed his bags early after a 7-5 7-6(5) defeat to Sydneysider Christopher O’Connell.
O’Connell, 30, fired nine aces and held serve on all 12 occasions in a clutch display.
In a major upset earlier in the day, 16-year-old Emerson Jones claimed the biggest win of her career over world No.37 Xinyu Wang.
The new 2025 season has become an early nightmare for Olivia Gadecki, losing 6-3 6-2 against No.3 seed and back-to-back Adelaide finalist Daria Kasatkina.
Having lost both of her singles matches at the United Cup in straight sets against Argentine Nadia Podoroska and Great Britain's Katie Boulter, it presents as unideal preparation for the world No.105 ahead of the Australian Open.
In other results around the grounds, there were two other men's singles contests involving No.9 seed Zhizhen Zheng crashing out to Denis Shapovalov 6-3 6-4 and an all-Spanish affair going the way of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5 6-2 against veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.
On the women's side, 2023 Wimbledon winner Markéta Vondroušová toppled the experienced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets, while former world No.2 Paula Badosa is slowly resurrecting her career, fighting back from a set down to pull through.
Aussies in Action on Day 2:
James Duckworth [AUS] v Li Tu [AUS]
Aleksandar Vukic [AUS] v Marcos Giron
Adam Walton [AUS] v Arthur Cazaux
Rinky Hijikata [AUS] v David Goffin
Tristan Schoolkate [AUS] v Tomás Martín Etcheverry
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