Sydney NSW, Australia, 5 January 2014 | apiainternational.com.au

Australian wildcard Jordan Thompson has upset China’s Wu Di to move through to the second round of men’s qualifying at Apia International Sydney.

The 19-year-old, who recently secured a wildcard into the main draw at Australian Open 2014 with his victory in the AO Play-off, continued his stellar form with a 7-5 6-3 win over Wu, ranked 112 places higher at No.208.

Thompson was joined in the second round by compatriot John-Patrick Smith, who overcame another Aussie, Matt Reid, 7-6(3) 6-2.

“(It was a) very tough match,” Smith said.

“I have played Matt a couple of times and we have played a lot of doubles together so I know him quite well and he played really well today so it was a tough match in the conditions today.”

The only Aussies remaining in qualifying after the losses of Reid, Dane Propoggia, Matthew Barton and Jacob Grills, Smith and Thompson both face seeded opposition in their next qualifying matches.

> view the men’s qualifying draws

> see the order of play for Sunday 5 January

Smith takes on eighth seed Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia while Thompson faces fellow young gun and No.7 seed Jiri Vesely, aged 20.

Vesely, the boys’ singles champion at Australian Open 2011, recovered from a slow start to see off Italy’s Flavio Cipolla 2-6 6-2 6-1.

“It was a very hard match for me, I just arrived yesterday morning from Chennai. I was travelling 24 hours and it was a very long flight. I was very tired in the first set, I didn’t have much energy but I am happy I found my rhythm and I was able to fight back into the match,” he said.

After toiling on the Challenger and Futures circuits in 2013, Vesely was enjoying contesting an event of the calibre of Apia International Sydney.

“All the facilities and all the treatments, all the guys here are so professional,” he said.

“It gives me motivation to keep going and to improve my game so I can play here as much as I can. Of course I want to win here.”

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