Sam Groth has steamrolled seeded Serbian Viktor Troicki to advance to the third round of the ATP's Washington Open while fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt made his last appearance at the tournament he won over 10 years ago.
The hardcourt tournament also lost its top seed when Andy Murray, in his first appearance in the American capital in nearly a decade, went down in his opening match with a 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-4) loss to 53rd-ranked Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia.
Groth was far too good for world No.20 and ninth seed Troicki in an emphatic 6-3 6-4 victory on Tuesday.
He will next face Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who was pushed all the way by Hewitt before recording a 4-6 7-5 6-3 win.
It was Hewitt's final outing at the hardcourt tournament he won in 2004 as he eyes retirement at next year's Australian Open.
Lopez lost his first four career matches against Hewitt but now has won the past two.
Murray had his chances against Gabashvili, who was limping between points on a bad left leg. Murray broke for a 5-4 lead in the third set and served for the victory. But he got broken right back, sailing a backhand long to make it 5-all.
"Obviously, disappointed not to close it out in the third set when I had a chance to do that," said world No.3 Murray. "There's things I feel I could have done better."
Then, in the tiebreaker, Murray went ahead 4-3. From there, though, he wouldn't take another point, dropping the last four against Gabashvili, who has never won a tour title and came into this match with a 9-13 record in 2015.
Gabashvili said he earned the nickname "Tsunami" in the past, because he would "play one match great, but then I could lose to anyone."
"When you win 7-6 in the third against Andy Murray, it's something special," said Gabashvili, who had won only three of 25 previous matches against top-10 opponents and called Wednesday's victory the "100 per cent" most important of his career.
Murray, who received a first-round bye, was playing his first match of the North American hardcourt circuit - and in his first tournament since reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon last month.
Murray was the runner-up in Washington in 2006, and hadn't been back since.
Meanwhile, John Isner hit 17 aces and won 37 of 40 first-serve points to move into the third round by beating Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
Isner compiled a 26-9 edge in winners and never faced a break point, powering serves that regularly topped 210km/hr.
"I can rely on it pretty much on any surface," the American said about his serve.
"But on the hard courts, it especially helps, because when it is returned, I feel like the ball is up in my strike zone."
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