Last week, Jordan Thompson was cheering for his teammate Max Purcell at the Davis Cup - but this week, he's taken no time in knocking his Sydney buddy out of an ATP tournament in China.
Thompson must have had a slightly bittersweet week in Manchester as he helped Australia reach the knockout stages of the Cup, but largely from the sidelines in a cheerleading role as he never got the chance to play in any of the three ties at the AO Arena.
Itching to get back into action, Thompson, who was overlooked while his occasional doubles partner Purcell played in three doubles and one singles rubber over a busy week, defeated his higher-ranked teammate 6-2 7-6 (10-8) at the Chengdu Open on Thursday to reach the last 16
Thompson, ranked 56 in the world, had lost his previous two matches with Purcell, including their French Open clash at Roland Garros in May, but was up for a clash with perhaps the highest flyer in Australian tennis this year.
Against the man who's risen to No.43 in the rankings, Thompson broke his sixth-seeded pal twice in the opening set while reeling off five straight games to take the set.
But the second set, which took an hour and 20 minutes to settle, proved a much tighter affair with Purcell having four set points in the tiebreak repelled before Thompson prevailed on his first match point to set up a last-16 date with Serbian Dusan Lajovic.
Another Sydneysider Chris O'Connell also made the last-16 with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win over Russian Alibek Kachmazov, setting up a last-16 contest with Japan's world No.95 Taro Daniel, who's already accounted for one Australian in Aleksandar Vukic.
But the biggest surprise among the Australian contingent was the advancement of 20-year-old prospect Philip Sekulic, who won his first-ever ATP main-draw match by beating Portugal's world No.88 Nuno Borges 7-5 5-7 6-3.
The qualifier from Subiaco, who'd had to battle through qualifying just to make it into his landmark debut, now finds himself amid heady company as he next faces Italy's world No.18 Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16. Next week, the world No.325 Sekulic will crash into the top 300.
While three Aussies were still left in Chengdu, there was also success for their experienced compatriots Alex Bolt and Marc Polmans in the other event in Zhuhai which also marks China's return to hosting international men's tournaments.
South Australian Bolt earned the notable scalp of Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, who had to retire when struggling with injury at 6-3 4-2 down, while Polmans beat compatriot Dane Sweeny 6-3 6-1 as the pair booked tough last-16 assignments.
Bolt will face the Russian top seed Karen Khachanov while Polmans will next face British No.1 Cameron Norrie.
