The 17-year-old pulled away from Radu Albot, 7-6 (2), 6-2, on Thursday at the ATP 250 clay-court event.

Next up for the second seed is another countryman in J.J. Wolf, who found his way past Radu Albot 6-3, 7-6 (5).

The Belgian is slowly but surely finding his form, and looks to be a solid bet against the huge-hitting Egor Gerasimov on Saturday.

In this exclusive from Melbourne, the Moldovan opens up about how he's been able to move forward after a trying year, as he looks to reach the fourth round of a singles major for the first time at the Australian Open.

A flurry of highly seeded players started Monday with opening round wins, while Victoria Azarenka was beaten by world No. 61 Jessica Pegula.

Making his debut as a No. 1 seed at an ATP event, the left-handed Canadian was knocked out of the Sofia Open on Tuesday by Radu Albot.

The American said he was "close to not playing the sport anymore" after two tough seasons have seen him fall outside of the rankings.

The backups to the team's stars aim for wins in the inaugural edition of the event.