Two Aussies earn maiden Tour-level wins; Popyrin nightmare continues

Cruz Hewitt and Edward Winter (Getty/Emilee Chinn, Matthew Stockman)

Cruz Hewitt and Edward Winter tasted a first ATP Tour-level victory on the same day in different tournaments, as the North American swing kicks into full gear.

Hewitt, 17, took down world No.85 American Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the ATP 500 Washington Open without conceding a break point chance.

Having recently reached the final of the Wimbledon Boys' final, the Sydneysider is continuing his red-hot form.

"It's a pretty special moment," Hewitt told Tennis Channel.

"Obviously seeing my dad [Lleyton] play this tournament and to get my first Tour win here, it feels really cool."

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Before the main draw, the world No.612 was offered a wildcard into qualifying, where he won both matches via two mid-match retirements.

"It was pretty special to play my first two qualies matches on Centre Court and my dad's name being at the back," he said. "It's kind of inspirational to look up at it as well, but super special to be back here."

Hewitt faces the winner of the match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and defending champion Alex de Minaur, with rain forcing play to be postponed until tomorrow.

On the women's side, qualifier Daria Kasatkina exited the WTA 500 event at the hands of fifth seed Anna Kalinskaya 4-6, 1-6.

In Mexico, 21-year-old Edward Winter made the most of a Lucky Loser reprieve from qualifying at the ATP 250 Los Cabos Open to defeat French teenager Moïse Kouame 6-1, 6-4.

The South Australian, who is in his final year of College at Pepperdine University, fell to former world No.52 Soon-woo Kwon before anxiously standing by for a second chance.

"It was kind of crazy yesterday. I wasn't sure I was going to get in or not," Winter told The First Serve when asked about waiting around for a spot in the main draw to open up.

"I found out yesterday, so I was super excited to get the opportunity out there.

"The match was up and down. I think I played a pretty good level and I thought [Kouame] did for the most part, but it just came down to a few points."

Perhaps it was fate that led to Winter earning his maiden Tour-Level win in Los Cabos, where he shared fond memories.

"I actually came here five or six years ago and did training where it was the first Tour event I'd ever been around with Thanasi [Kokkinakis] and Langers [Todd Langman], so it was super cool back then, and I always hoped I'd get to be here again and play."

James Duckworth was the other Aussie winner to advance to round two with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Aidan Mayo. However, Rinky Hijikata was unable to capitalise on a one-set cushion against former top 10 player Denis Shapovalov.

Adam Walton’s match finished just before 2:30am local time, and just like Hijikata, couldn’t find a way to close it out after leading by a set against Dalibor Svrcina.

Elsewhere, Alexei Popyrin's slump continues following a shock loss to Ecuadorian Andres Andrade, as the match finished 5-7, 6-3, 1-6 in the opening round of the Vancouver Challenger.

It marks six consecutive defeats for the 26-year-old, with his last triumph coming in May against Taylor Fritz in Geneva on clay.

Popyrin's ranking is in free-fall, as he finds himself down to 139th in the live rankings. He also needs to defend 200 quarter-final points at the Canadian Masters in Montreal — a tournament which he won two years ago.

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