Winston-Salem, NC, USA, 23 August 2016 | AAP

John Millman has progressed to the second round of the Winston-Salem Open courtesy of a hard-fought three-set win over Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka.

But it wasn’t all good news for the Australians in the first round, with James Duckworth bundled out by Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny.

Millman was forced to fight back after dropping the first set, before going onto win the match 4-6 6-3 6-4 on Monday (Tuesday AEST).

Millman sent down eight aces and saved five break points in the win.

He’ll now play No.3 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, who received a bye into the second round.

Meanwhile Duckworth, now ranked No.199 in the world in an injury-plagued season after being inside the top 100 at this time last year, fell 7-6(8) 1-6 6-3 to Youzhny.

A single service break in the final set was all the 34-year-old Russian needed to close out the match against the Australian, who has won just two matches when he has been in the main draw of an ATP level event in 2016.

Joining Youzhny in the second round are Americans Donald Young and Taylor Fritz, who both won in impressive fashion.

Young downed Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 6-1 and Fritz recorded a win over fellow American Frances Tiafoe 6-1 6-4.

Other early winners included Czech player Jiri Vesely and British pair Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund.