Thanasi Kokkinakis won't be the only male flying the flag for Australia at the Sydney International, with two local qualifiers winning through to the main draw on day one.
Matthew Barton and Christopher O'Connell ensured there would be a strong local flavour at the Australian Open warm-up event at Homebush with strong victories on Sunday.
Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt would've been impressed with the 11 aces world No.196 Barton sent down in his 6-3 6-1 win over Mathias Bourgue on show court one.
World No.237 O'Connell made it a five-man contingent after toppling Enrique Lopez-Perez 6-3 7-5, then celebrating after receiving the final Australian Open wildcard.
The pair join Kokkinakis, Jordan Thompson and Alex De Minaur in a weak male field in Sydney that boasts just one top-20 player in world No.8 Dominic Thiem.
Sydney-born Barton made headlines last year after progressing to the second round at Wimbledon in the 25-year-old's grand-slam debut.
The 18-year-old O'Connell will make his first senior appearance in his home town.
Thompson and Kokkinakis on Sunday night won the Brisbane International doubles final, beating American Sam Querrey and Luxemburg's Gilles Muller 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 on Pat Rafter Arena. The Australian pair are set to face off in round one in Sydney.
The match will be the 20-year-old Kokkinakis' first on tour after a shoulder injury limited the promising talent to a single Olympics match in 2016.
Top-seeded Thiem said it was important to get as much court time as he could after being losing in the quarter-finals of the season-opening Brisbane event.
"It worked out well a few times for me, that I played in the week before the slam, especially last year before the French Open," Thiem said on Sunday.
"Last week, Brisbane was a very strong field but I only got two matches so it's perfect here to get used to the conditions. Here, it's very hot which (it) can also be in Melbourne."
French veteran Nicolas Mahut became the first man through to the second round with a 6-2 7-6 (7-2) win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.
