Inglis beats US Open finalist Fernandez

After racing to a 4-0 lead in the second set, Inglis held her nerve in a marathon sixth game, saving several break points before sealing it with an ace.

Two games later she wrapped up her first victory at a grand slam at her fifth attempt.

Inglis's second-round opponent with be either US qualifier Hailey Baptiste or Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia.

In further good news for the host nation, 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur - playing singles for the 20th and final time at the Open - hung tough to beat American wildcard Robin Anderson 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-3.

It was only the 37-year-old Stosur's second victory in her past seven visits to Melbourne Park, a venue where she has never progressed beyond the fourth round.

"That was incredible," said Stosur, who is now ranked 487th in the world and needed a wildcard to enter the 2022 Open.

"That's a match I'm gonna remember forever."

Fellow wildcard Chris O'Connell advanced to round two at the Open for a second successive year by downing Frenchman Hugo Gaston in four sets.

The 27-year-old Sydneysider won 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 4-6 6-1 in two hours and 35 minutes on Tuesday to set up a clash on Thursday with Argentinian No.13 seed Diego Schwartzman, who beat Serb Filip Krajinovic 6-3 6-4 7-5.

Aleksandar Vukic also justified the decision to hand him a wildcard by beating No.30 seed Lloyd Harris on Monday.

Playing in her first major since last year's Australian Open and having recovered from surgery to the Achilles tendon that had troubled her on and off for five years, Daria Saville lost 6-2 6-3 to Swede Rebecca Peterson.

The former top-20 star married fellow Australian player Luke Saville last month.

Czech No.31 seed Marketa Vondrousova proved too good for fellow Australian  Priscilla Hon, winning 6-2 6-3.

Big-name compatriots Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios and Alexei Popyrin are among the other locals in action on Tuesday.