There were no 4:30am finishes, no one got spat on and no Fanatics sustained life-threatening injuries. But Lleyton Hewitt is never one to dish up a brisk and straightforward affair.

While there were fewer pyrotechnics on day two of the Australian Open, three more locals progressed to the second round – taking the total to 11 from 17. Click on the owl to see their results.  

With tennis hitherto said to be on the skids in this country, the past few days have ushered in a renaissance of sorts and Aussies of all ages, backgrounds and dispositions are getting in on the act.

• Special Ks lead the way for Australian tennis
• Stosur, Dellacqua, Hewitt march into second round
• Djokovic, Wawrinka among the winners
• Azarenka to play Wozniacki
• The Australian Open Daily Deuce: day two

For once, Hewitt drew a good marble. His Australian Open pickings have been surprisingly slim, but he’s been bedevilled by tough draws in recent years.

Ze ‘Big George’ Zhang, it must be said, didn’t exactly loom as the most ominous of opponents. The Chinese qualifier was tall and willing but had a tendency to get the wobbles.

When he double-faulted at 3-4, Hewitt had a break and the first set and seemed to be gunning for an early night.

No such luck.

Zhang promptly broke the Australian and repeated the dose two games later, squaring things up at one set apiece. Hewitt looked flat, reactive and (say it softly) a little old. Even his infantile cheer squad struggled to summon up a sea shanty.

After nearly two decades, the prospect of never seeing him play in Melbourne again was suddenly very real.

But at an age when most Grand Slam champions have retired to Florida, Hewitt once again went into pugilist mode. In boxing parlances, Big George had the reach but Little Lleyton had the better chin. He counter-punched his way to one break of serve, then another, eventually securing a third-set bagel when Zhang netted a regulation backhand.

Those who had pensioned off the Australian just half an hour earlier were treated to the sight of him galloping around Rod Laver Arena, much like he would at the apex of his career. His serve and shot selection – conspicuously absent in the second set – were too much for Zhang in the fourth.

At 4-5, having saved several match points, Zhang miscued a backhand and Hewitt booked a date with the big-serving, but very beatable, Benjamin Becker in round two.

No nerves for Samantha Stosur against Monica Niculescu. Photo: Getty

Like Hewitt, Sam Stosur’s best results have always been on foreign shores. Unlike him, one can never be sure which Stosur will turn up.

Some of her Melbourne losses have been ‘avert your eyes’ stuff. Two years ago, she was leading 5-2 in the third set of her second-round clash against Zheng Jie but collapsed to hand the Chinese journeywoman victory 6-4 1-6 7-5.

Still, history suggests that once she wins the opening set, she can be hard to run down. And once she gets the wood on a certain opponent, like Monica Niculescu, she tends to hold her form.

On Tuesday, the Romanian played the most curious of games, almost squash-like at times. She executed a little leap whenever she hit her slice forehand, the kind that Mansour Bahrami and co specialise in on the hit-and-giggle circuit.

It normally seems to work for her but it played right into Stosur’s power game. In the end, Niculescu couldn’t get a handle on the serve of Stosur, who has now beaten her five times on the trot.

Twenty-five winners to seven pretty much told the story of Casey Dellacqua’s win over Yvonne Meusburger. The Austrian, who came out of retirement for a Melbourne Park swansong, may be ruing her decision after the 29th seed sent her packing in just over an hour.

Should Dellacqua prevail over American Madison Keys, she will meet two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova in the third round.