Powerhouse American Frances Tiafoe rolled up his right sleeve and slapped his biceps with delight after sending fifth seed Kevin Anderson crashing out of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Having played the support role to megastar teammate Serena Williams at the Hopman Cup earlier this month, Tiafoe relished the chance to take top billing at Margaret Court Arena.
The 20-year-old's 4-6 6-4 6-4 7-5 career-best victory against Anderson, last year's losing Wimbledon finalist, pitched him into a third-round clash with Italian veteran Andreas Seppi on Friday.
"That was some celebration like you do for the new year," Tiafoe said of his muscle-flexing victory pose.
"But I'm more worried about winning tennis matches.
"It was kind of an instinct thing, but I hope the crowd liked it."
Anderson was coming off a career-best 2018 campaign, highlighted by a run to the final at Wimbledon.
The Australian Open has long been Anderson's least-successful slam as he has never progressed further than the fourth round at Melbourne Park in 11 attempts dating back to 2008.
Anderson had the better of the early exchanges on Wednesday, leading a set and 3-0 before Tiafoe found a way to swing the match in his favour.
"I was getting killed, man," said the American.
"It was about mixing it up and playing smarter. Don't try to go for cannons.
"Try to serve a bunch of first serves and don't give him looks at seconds so he can be on the front foot and be unpredictable."
Were he to overcome Seppi, Tiafoe will celebrate his 21st birthday on Sunday at Melbourne Park with a first appearance in the round of 16 at a major.
"If I'm playing on that day and beat somebody that would be the best present I could get," he said.
Taylor Fritz, 21, landed another big blow for the next generation of American male players by ousting French showman Gael Monfils 6-3 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5).
His prize was a third-round clash with six-time Open champ Roger Federer, who downed British qualifier Daniel Evans in three tight sets 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
Fritz dropped serve only once in four sets against Monfils, the No.30 seed.
Last year's beaten Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic came out on the right side of a tight four-setter, winning 7-5 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 6-4 against unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald.
The sixth-seeded Croatian advanced to a third-round showdown with Spanish No.26 seed Fernando Verdasco, who eased past Moldovan Radu Albot 6-1 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.
Spurred on by a passionate crowd dominated by members of Melbourne's large Greek-Australian community, No.14 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki 6-3 2-6 6-2 7-5.
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