The result represents his furthest progress in the grand slam event; last year, he went out after the first round of qualifying.

Lajal overcame Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying.

Both players in his round two clash served up 11 aces during the game, but Lajal only committed two double faults compared with seven from Shimabukuro.

While Lajal had his serve broken twice in the first set, in the second, both players held serve until the tie-breaker, which the Estonian fell behind 3-0 in, only to catch up and overtake his opponent, winning the set on the second set point presented to him.

In the decider, Lajal broke to take a 3-2 lead, holding his serve thereafter and taking the set and match – qualifying matches are limited to three sets, compared with five sets in the main matches of the men's grand slam encounters.

Lajal will now face Portuguese Jaime Faria (ATP 124th), who has so far defeated Dutchman Gijs Brouwer (ATP 192nd) and Australian Dane Sweeny (ATP 320th), in both cases in straight sets.

The winner will be through to the main tournament.

Lajal, 21, ranked 234th in the world, has made it to the main event at one grand slam tournament so far in his career, at last year's Wimbledon finals, where he famously faced off against world number three Carlos Alcaraz (Spain), in front of the usual celebrity-studded crowd there.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!