Bernard Tomic delighted the home fans at the Australian Open with a four-set victory over Sam Querrey at the Rod Laver Arena.
Things did not start well for the home hope as Querrey won the only break point of the first set to claim it in just 24 minutes.
Seven of Querrey's 22 aces came in that opening set, but having had a good look at his booming serve, Tomic began to get a read on it.
He hit back by taking the second, breaking serve twice, but the match hinged on the third-set tie-break.
Tomic palyed some sparkling stuff in it to move ahead for the first time and as Querrey's errors mounted so did his challenge.
An error-strewn eighth game in the fourth set cost him dearly and he handed it away with a double fault when break point down.
Tomic duly served out and he will now face another of the ATP's rising stars, Alexandr Dolgopolov, in the last 32.
However, another young prospect, Grigor Dimitrov, saw his hopes ended by 10th seed Nicolas Almagro.
The Bulgarian, dubbed 'Baby Federer' by some, led by two sets to one but fell apart in the decider to lose 4-6 6-3 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 6-0.
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer both made it into the third round, the latter in the easiest possible manner when his German opponent Andreas Beck was forced out of their second-round clash due to a lower back problem.
Nadal did not have it quite so straightforward against Tommy Haas but won in straight sets, 6-4 6-3 6-4, and revealed afterwards that he was quite happy to have played, and performed well, against a tricky opponent.
Asked if he too would have preferred a bye, he said: "Before the day started yes but now I played and won I am happy.
Reflecting on a good work out, he added: "I don't know if it was the perfect match but I won in three sets.
"It was positive but not that demanding (physically). We didn't play for four or five hours."
As for the knee he injured when sitting on a chair on Sunday, Nadal insisted the heavy strapping was merely precautionary.
"It is much better and I am so happy the knee is improving and I am able to play without pain," he said.
Federer, seeded number three in Melbourne, revealed he was unaware of Beck's injury until after practice this morning.
"I didn't know anything about it until I saw him in the locker room and he came up to me. I was like 'hey, what's going on? Good to see you again', because he's a good friend. I've practised with him in the past in Switzerland.
"He said 'I'm not so good actually, I have a bad back'. It came as a surprise.
"He said he had a lot of painkillers during the last match. I think it happened four, five days ago. He doesn't want to risk it early in the season. I guess it's the smart decision for him to take."
The 16-time grand slam winner was adamant having an extra day off would not disrupt his momentum.
"I'll just take it easy this afternoon and come out tomorrow and hit intensely and then I'll be ready for the next match," he said.
There will not be a next match for Mardy Fish, who became the highest seed to exit the tournament when he lost to Alejandro Falla.
World number eight Fish turned in a mistake-laden performance, making 58 unforced errors, to hand the Colombian a 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 7-6 (8/6) victory in exactly three hours.
"I didn't play great and he played well," said Fish, who was irritated at Falla's repeated call for the trainer at the changeovers.
"For someone who is in the latter stages of his career and prides himself on his fitness, I don't enjoy that at all," he added.
"I have a hard time calling the trainer for anything. First of all, I wouldn't want the other guy to know that I was hurting in the first place. But to be able to get help for lack of fitness..."
Elsewhere, seventh seed Tomas Berdych eased past diminutive Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-1 6-0 7-6 (7/4), 11th seed Juan Martin Del Potro beat Blaz Kavcic 6-4 7-5 6-3 and left-handed Spaniard Feliciano Lopez overcame Flavio Cipolla 7-5 7-6 (7/4) 6-2.
John Isner, meanwhile, progressed after a controversial end to his match against David Nalbandian.
After an epic struggle reached 8-8 in the deciding set and with Nalbandian on break point, chair umpire Kader Nouni overruled a linesperson who had called out an Isner ace.
Television replays not only showed Nouni had made a mistake - the ball was indeed wide - he then compounded the error by refusing Nalbandian the right to challenge via Hawk-Eye due to the time taken by the Argentinian to make the decision.
Isner duly held and then broke a clearly livid Nalbandian in the next game to complete a 4-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7/5) 10-8 victory.
"I didn't know what was going on as I was towelling off," Isner told ESPN immediately afterwards. "I guess I was just a little luckier out there."
