Queensland pals Adam Walton and Kimberly Birrell have made it a red-letter day for Australian tennis, delivering the performances of their lives to conjure up stunning first-round giant-kills at the French Open.
Wildcard Walton stayed cool at the height of the Paris heatwave on Tuesday to shock a frazzled sixth seed Daniil Medvedev, "hanging tough" in the final set to come from behind and beat the former world No.1 6-2 1-6 6-1 1-6 6-4.
Then when the evening came and temperatures mercifully dropped, the unsung Birrell felt inspired by her friend to somehow hit an even hotter comeback trail under the lights to outplay American world No.5 Jessica Pegula 1-6 6-3 6-3.
If six Aussies through to the second round wasn't good enough news, main man Alex de Minaur was given a walkover into the third round following the withdrawal of his dangerous second-round opponent Alexander Blockx with a right ankle sprain.
