Cruz Hewitt’s first foray into senior grand slam tennis ended with a swift reality check, but glimpses of his exciting potential were on display for a packed-out crowd at Melbourne Park.

The son of former teen prodigy Lleyton Hewitt was unsuccessful in his bid to become the youngest player to qualify for the Australian Open men’s singles main draw since his father in 1997 after he was convincingly beaten by Georgian veteran Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-4.

But the 16-year-old excited fans in his first-round qualifying defeat on Tuesday and brought out his dad’s trademark “c’mon” first pump celebration early in the match after saving consecutive break points on his serve.

“The ‘c’mon’ is there, but the hat is the wrong way round. There’s a similarity and a difference,” commentator John Fitzgerald remarked as Hewitt senior and Australian star Alex de Minaur looked on in the front row.

Basilashvili, the 32-year-old former world No. 16, had more power than the teenager and was imposing when he came to the net, but Hewitt worked his way into the match after he struggled for rhythm in a 30-minute first set.

His first serve went at only 36% in his first two service games, but he found his way from there to secure an impressive hold at 5-0 down.

The Hewitt fist pump came out again when he broke back against the Georgian to force the second set to 2-2, with many of the roughly 1500 people packed into court 3 rising to their feet in approval.

The teenager continued to fight back, saving three break points to hold serve again to bring his opponent’s lead back to 4-3 in the second set.

It was followed by another hold when he thumped a crosscourt backhand winner to stay in the contest, but Basilashvili answered on his serve to advance to the second round of qualifying.

Bernard Tomic’s hopes of an Australian Open return were also dashed after a straight-sets, 6-3, 6-1 loss to world No. 128 Jozef Kovalik.