MELBOURNE, Aus. - Melbourne shone on the first day of the official proceedings of the Australian Open as the men’s qualifying singles got underway. As the weather heated up, so did the tennis with notables such as Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and Japan’s Tatsuma Ito taking the court early in order to secure a spot in next week’s main draw. Most of the small crowd was predictably eyeing the results of the Australian contingent. But, while the matches containing Australians drew the majority of the crowds, the small group of American men flew relatively under the radar as they flourished on a day conducive to fast hard-court tennis.

With entry into Melbourne Park free of charge, a small stream of people filled show court 8 early as they watched promising American youngster Daniel Kosakowski outlast Ito in three sets. Much more experienced than Kosakowski, Ito made a whopping 50 unforced errors as he succumbed to the 21-year-old American.

Perhaps it was a good omen for the day as all seven Americans in action won their way into the second round of qualifiers. Rajeev Ram, Bobby Reynolds, Wayne Odesnik, and Denis Kudla all won in straight sets, while Rhyne Williams and Austin Krajicek were made to work harder as they progressed into the second round.

Rhyne Williams fought hard in a fiery clash with Canada’s Steven Diez, who threatened to implode toward the end of the first set after a disputed line call. But, instead of setting the Canadian off, his outward display of anger seemed to fire him up as he then came back to win the second set. The 22-year-old American had too much class at the finish, however, and kept his hopes for a birth in the Australian Open main draw alive. In Austin Krajicek’s match, both players were exhausted from the searing Melbourne sun as the third set ended at 9-7 in the American’s favor.

While there remain two Americans who have not played their first-round qualifying matches, the news is already good for tennis fans from the United States with an undefeated start to the qualifiers so far. On Thursday, the attention turns to the women who will look to continue the run of American victors with the women’s qualifying singles commencing at Melbourne Park.