Casual tennis observers might still be wondering where Fearnley has appeared from.

Little more than a year ago, the Briton was unranked in the professional game and still playing in the "brutal" United States college tennis system where he developed his aggressive game.

Finishing his kinesiology degree at Texas Christian University in April was the point when he decided it was time to move into the professional ranks.

Then came the stunning rise played out at warp speed.

Winning five ATP Challenger events last year propelled him into the top 100 and enabled him to qualify directly for the Australian Open main draw.

Landing Kyrgios was the reward, but it remained to be seen how Fearnley would cope with what was expected to be a partisan atmosphere.

Despite admitting he felt "anxious", he hoped his experiences of college tennis - all noise, trash-talking and team bonding - would stand him in good stead.

Fearnley looked calm from the start and clear in his thinking.

"I knew that I couldn't really show any emotion because I felt that the crowd was just going to eat that alive," he said.

Kyrgios was unable to regularly unleash his huge serve and Fearnley was regularly able to get into the receiving points.

That allowed him to take control of the first-set tie-break, race away with the second set and move a break up in the third.

Fearnley's serve was also rock solid. He dropped just five points on serve in the opening two sets before Kyrgios broke for the only time to take the third into another tie-break which Fearnley dominated.