While an American qualifier ranked 112 in the world almost caused a seismic shock on Rod Laver Arena against world No.3 Rafael Nadal, four Australians – Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Sam Groth – lit up the adjacent courts at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Three of the four – all of them bar Groth wearing the much-talked-about fluoro outfits – progressed to the next round, demonstrating that as far as Australian tennis is concerned, we’re in for an interesting next few years. Click on the owl to see the Australian results from day three.  

First up was Kyrgios, who drew Ivo Karlovic, the oldest and tallest player in the men’s tournament, best known to Australians as the man who stunned Lleyton Hewitt in the opening round of his 2003 Wimbledon defence.

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Not surprisingly for someone standing 6ft 10, the Croatian’s serve causes divots. From lofty heights, he thundered down his customary barrage of aces but threw in too many double faults.

The Australian was noticeably lighter on his feet than during Monday night’s win over Federico Delbonis, and seemed to revel in the more festive atmosphere of Show Court 3.

He lost concentration at the business end of the third set but banged down 25 aces of his own, many of them at crunch moments, to eventually prevail in four sets, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 5-7 6-4.

Sam Groth and Thanasi Kokkinakis embrace after their second-round clash. Photo: Getty

While Kyrgios was kissing the court, 27-year-old Groth, no slouch of a serve himself, had just gone two sets to one up against Kokkinakis.

The Kokk duly broke in the first game of the fourth and forced a decider. Groth’s ruck-rover physique contrasted starkly with his stick-thin compatriot and it was the older man who had the legs and all the answers.

Every time he was threatened, he would unfurl a backhand or reel off an ace. Four years ago, he forsook professional tennis for suburban footy. Now he’s through to the final 32 of a Grand Slam for the first time.

He will play Tomic, who saw off German 22nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in four sets. Tomic went in as the lower-ranked of the pair and at various times during the first set, his appetite for the contest seemed less than voracious.

As always, he flummoxed and flattered to deceive but the longer the match went, the harder he fought.

He closed out the second set with a preposterous backhand drop shot, turning to the crowd as if to say: “Aren’t I something else?”

In the third set tiebreak, the German had three set points but netted a meek forehand, then doubled-faulted, then copped a desperately unlucky net chord. Almost apologetically, Tomic promptly aced him to pinch the set. Tight as it was, there was no luck involved in the fourth-set tiebreak – Tomic icing the win with a typically casual forehand winner down the guts.

Earlier, James Duckworth and Marinko Matosevic copped wallopings from Richard Gasquet and Andy Murray respectively. The Scot served and moved perhaps as well as we’ve ever seen him in Australia, while what remained of the Mad Dog tottered helplessly on the other side of the net.