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Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios won through to second round at the Japan Open but Matthew Ebden went down to Kevin Anderson.
Alex de Minaur's fighting qualities were again at the fore on Wednesday as the Australian saved four match points to move through to the second round of the Japan Open.
Fast gaining a reputation as one of the toughest competitor's on tour at just 19, de Minaur again had to do it the hard way to beat France's Gilles Simon 6-7 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
Simon served for the match and had his chances to close it out but de Minaur broke back and claimed the second set tiebreak before running away with the third set.
The victory sets up a meeting with one of the form players of the tour, fellow young gun Stefanos Tsitsipas.
De Minaur saved four match points against Andrey Rublev in August on his way to the Citi Open final and recovered from a break in the decider of his Shenzen Open round of 16 match against Mackenzie McDonald last week.
Projected to rise to at least No.33 in the world next week from his current ranking of 38, de Minaur may well find himself the new Australian No.1 unless Nick Kyrgios can do something special in Tokyo.
A finalist from last year, Kyrgios has 300 points to defend and will need a good tournament to ensure he doesn't slide outside the world's top 35.
He started well enough on Wednesday, serving 20 aces in his first-round win over Yoshihito Nishioka.
The world No.27 converted just two of nine break-point opportunities but proved clinical when it mattered most to prevail 7-5 7-6 (7-3) in one hour and 13 minutes.
Kyrgios was dominant on his forehand wing hitting 15 winners but 51 unforced errors allowed Nishioka, who won his maiden ATP title last week in Shenzhen, to push him to two tough sets.
Next up for Kyrgios is a second-round showdown with French eighth seed Richard Gasquet.
Meanwhile Matthew Ebden squandered a first set lead to go down to world No.9 Kevin Anderson 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2.
Marin Cilic, the tournament's top seed, was a shock first-round casualty on Tuesday.
