The Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University in North Carolina is the final major hitout for players ahead of next week's US Open, which will feature at least seven Australian men in the singles draw.
The 17-year-old son of Australian Hall of Fame legend Lleyton Hewitt overcame a remarkably sluggish start, in which he was bulldozed 6-1 inside half an hour by American local Sebastian Gorzny in the first set, to grind out a second set tiebreak and then break the penultimate game of the third set to take out his first round game 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.
It was the ATP Tour main draw win of Hewitt's career, coming four weeks after he upset rank no. 77 Marcos Giron at the Washington Open before losing to compatriot Alex De Minaur in the second round.
It was a much easier time for the other three Aussie men to take part at Winston-Salem with James Duckworth and Adam Walton both enjoying straight sets victories on Monday night local time.
Walton held his serve throughout the entirety of his first round game against top-100 player Jesper de Jong, saving five break points along the way to serve out the match 6-2, 6-4.
Rank no. 79 Duckworth faced ATP Tour debutant Quinn Vandecasteele and won 55% of Vandecasteele's service points as part of a cruisy 6-2, 6-1 victory.
The day before, Rinky Hijikata was the first Australian through to the final 32 when he defeated Darwin Blanch (rank no. 241) 6-4, 7-6(2).
There are currently seven Aussie men set to feature in the US Open men's singles bracket, headlined by number seven seed Alex De Minaur.
James Duckworth, Rinky Hijikata, Adam Walton, Aleksandar Vukic and Alexei Popyrin are all currently in the entry list, along with Thanasi Kokkinakis who has been awarded a protected ranking slot.
Alex Bolt, Bernard Tomic, Chris O'Connell and Tristan Schoolkate are all in this week's US Open qualifying tournament and are three wins each away from progressing to the main draw.
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
