Shanghai, China, 9 October 2018 | AAP / Tennis Australia

Alex de Minaur’s late season charge continued as the Australian won through to the second round of the Shanghai Masters.

De Minaur, who became Australia’s highest-ranked man at 33 in the world on Monday, held his nerve to beat big-serving Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4 7-6(4).

The 19-year-old held on to an early break and kept his nose ahead in the first set, with Pospisil blowing five break-point opportunities, including four in one game.

Games stayed on serve in the second set which went to a tiebreaker, when De Minaur then made quick inroads into the Canadian’s serve, streaking ahead to a 6-1 advantage.

It took four match points but he eventually served out the match.

The Sydneysider will look to capture more rankings points in the Masters series tournament as he closes in on a top-32 ranking and seeding for next year’s Australian Open.

De Minaur will next take on French qualifier Benoit Paire, who upset 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-4.

But waiting in the wings for the newly-minted Australian No.1 is world No.5 Alexander Zverev, who shapes as a potential round-of-16 opponent.