Barely anyone outside of British tennis circles had heard of Fearnley this time last year.

While eyes were on the pinnacle of sport at Melbourne Park, he was playing events on the third-tier ITF Tour and still finishing his kinesiology degree in the United States.

Last April he left Texas Christian University and then came the stunning rise which has been one of the quickest in ATP history.

Winning five ATP Challenger events in 2024 propelled him into the top 100 and enabled him to qualify directly for this year's Australian Open main draw.

Like every other test he has faced over recent months, he has not been fazed by the experience.

After beating 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios in front of a partisan home crowd on Monday, Fearnley might have been forgiven for thinking it would be a quieter evening on the outside courts.

But, with a vocal French support backing Cazaux and also galvanising the British fans, his college tennis experience helped him once again.

Fearnley trailed 2-0 before a rain delay and quickly went another break down when they returned to court an hour later in cool and windy conditions.

He lost serve again early in the second set, but immediately clawed the break back and swung the momentum in his favour.

His fluid and fast groundstrokes were too much for Cazaux to handle, enabling him to confidently win the final two sets before looking stunned when he clinched victory.

"I was extremely nervous at the end because I started hitting some double faults. I really didn't want to serve out the match," Fearnley said.

"When I did it was a little bit emotional."