Former top-ranked junior Luke Saville has produced one of the biggest wins of his career by ousting top seed Thomaz Bellucci in Wimbledon qualifying.
Saville was one of four Australians progressing to the second round in qualifying for next week’s grass court grand slam began at Roehampton on Monday.
Sam Groth, James Duckworth and Alex Bolt joined Saville in moving a step closer to a place in the Wimbledon men’s draw.
Saville, 20, defied his ranking of 233 to down Brazilian world No.100 Bellucci 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 6-1.
The former junior Wimbledon and Australian Open champion will next face American Rhyne Williams in his quest for a second grand slam start.
Big-serving Groth defeated Brit Edward Corrie 6-3 7-6 (7-2), while Duckworth beat Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 7-6 (11-9) 6-2.
Bolt ousted Slovakian 17th seed Norbert Gombos 7-5 6-4.
All are bidding to join Lleyton Hewitt, Marinko Matosevic, Matt Ebden, Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios in the main draw from Monday.
John-Patrick Smith, Ben Mitchell and Matt Reid were all first-round causalities.
Women’s qualifying begins on Tuesday with Ashleigh Barty, Anastasia Rodionova and Olivia Rogowska attempting to join Samantha Stosur, Casey Dellacqua and Jarmila Gajdosova in the main draw.