Experienced wildcard James Duckworth has history on his side when he faces eighth seed Tomas Machac to launch Day 2 of the Adelaide International at The Drive.
Their history is brief. And relatively ancient. But it's history nonetheless.
Duckworth claimed a straight-sets victory in the only meeting between the pair, at the one-off River Murray Open in 2021, a tune-up event to that year's Australian Open.
It was held at the same Melbourne Park venue due to the cancellation of other tournaments across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Machac was ranked a lowly 199th at the time. Now world No.35 - after cracking the top 20 last year - the Czech presents a far stiffer, more seasoned proposition on Centre Court.
Teenager Maya Joint, Australia's highest-ranked female, boasts even superior – and more recent history – against 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who she will cross swords with on Tuesday afternoon.
Joint has thumped Kenin both times they have met, dropping six games in four sets. "I guess it matches up well against mine," Joint said. "I played really well both times I played her. "Hopefully I can play really well again."
Ajla Tomljanovic, who will face the winner on Thursday, heaped praise on 19-year-old Joint, whose meteoric rise to world No.32 - from outside the top 100 just a year earlier - was one of last season’s standout tour stories.
"Oh, so impressive," Tomljanovic gushed. "So many firsts in pretty much her first full year on tour. Still so young
"When someone's playing so well you forget that they're so young because they seem so experienced when they're on the court."'
Seventh-seeded comeback king Stefanos Tsitsipas recaptured some of his vintage best while representing Greece at the United Cup following a forgettable 2025 campaign derailed by injury and a loss of form, chalking up a well below-par 2-4 record across the majors.
Tsitsipas re-enlisted the coaching services of his father Apostolos partway through last season after a short but stormy alliance with Goran Ivanisevic and will be looking to reclaim his standing as a perennial Grand Slam contender.
Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic will be bidding to snap Tsitsipas' form surge when they take to the court to start the evening session.
Tsitsipas easily won the pair's only previous encounter, at the Los Cabos Open 2024 in Mexico, but Vukic is no pushover on Australian hardcourts.
At last year's Australian Open, the Sydneysider ousted 22nd seed Sebastian Korda before pushing Jack Draper to the brink in a 10-8 fifth-set super tiebreak.
Doubles partners Tristan Schoolkate and Rinky Hijikata will temporarily put teamwork and friendship aside when they face off on Centre Court.
It will be the first meeting between the two Aussie wildcards in an ATP event. They have officially played each other once, in an M25 event on Switzerland's clay in 2021, Hijikata winning in straight sets.
Gold Coast wildcard Kimberly Birrell will take on Austrian Lucky Loser Anastasia Potapova on Court 4.
On Showcourt 1, seventh-seeded Liudmila Samsonova has a tricky first-round assignment in the form of 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova.
Vondrousova leads Samsonova 2-1 in their head-to-heads, the unseeded Czech victorious in the past two of those, both on hardcourt.
World No.8 Mirra Andreeva will face Lucky Loser Marie Bouzkova in the final night fixture. The two have met twice, both last season, Andreeva prevailing on each occasion without dropping a set.
Don’t miss out on the chance to be part of one of the most exciting tournaments of the year. Tickets for the Adelaide International are on sale via Ticketmaster.