Vying for his first win at a major, local wildcard Li Tu pushed Czech 24th seed Jiri Lehecka in their first-round Australian Open clash on Margaret Court Arena.
The Adelaide-born 28-year-old was at his counter-punching best, winning the second set and forcing a fourth-set tiebreak, but was ultimately outclassed in the big moments to fall 6-1 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1).
Lehecka, who lost to Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2023 quarter-finals in Melbourne, dropped serve just once and crunched 45 winners in the entertaining two-hour-and-20-minutes affair.
His second-round opponent will be Frenchman Hugo Gaston, who dispatched former tennis wunderkind Omar Jasika 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-2.
Heavy rain wreaked havoc on the first day of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
Heavy rain and thunderstorms forced the pair off Court 3 for more than six hours as Jasika was threatening to turn the tide early in the second set.
When play got under way after 6pm, the 27-year-old wildcard immediately broke the world No.81 to send the tennis-deprived home crowd into raptures and went on to claim the second set.
But as the match wore on Gaston acclimatised to Jasika's unconventional game, smashing 55 winners and 33 unforced errors to steamroll into the second round.
Gaston had lost his only previous clash with a local at Melbourne Park, falling to Australian Chris O'Connell in the opening round in 2022.
Jasika famously became the first player in 28 years to win the US Open boys' singles and doubles titles in 2014, and two years later reached the second round of the Australian Open.
But his quest for senior tour success was derailed late in 2018 when he was banned for two years after testing positive to cocaine.
He spent time working in a factory and in a bar, watching the careers of his peers progress, before returning to the grand-slam stage in Melbourne last year.
Frenchman Hugo Gaston scored a four-set win over local hope Omar Jasika at the Australian Open. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)
Jasika said he preferred to "stay in his line" when asked about the severity of doping infringement penalties handed to superstars Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner.
But the Victorian said he was extremely grateful to tournament organisers for his wildcard, and planned to use it to invest back into his tennis.
"Hopefully, I can have a career high this year and try and break into the top 100," he said.
"That's the goal for me, for sure."
Jasika and Tu were among four Australians in action on day one in Melbourne, along with Adam Walton and Daria Saville.
Aleksandar Vukic's clash with Bosnian Damir Dzumhur was rescheduled to Monday after more than 30mm of rain was recorded at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Action was able to continue under closed roofs on the three main show courts throughout the afternoon, but only six matches were completed before 6pm local time.
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