Paul Drinkhall beat the world No 28 to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open, where he will face France’s Tristan Flore on Wednesday.

Drinkhall, who won his two qualifying group matches at a canter earlier in the tournament, today overcame Russia’s Alex Shibaev in Surfers Paradise.

His opponent came from 2-0 down to level the score but the English No 1 was able to impose himself again and win 4-2 against an opponent ranked 17 places above him.

His last-16 opponent will be world No 50 Flore, who defeated ninth-ranked Koki Niwa of Japan in six sets today. The match is at 11am UK time.

In the doubles, Drinkhall teamed up with Scotland’s Gavin Rumgay and the pair were narrowly defeated by Jin Ueda & Maharu Yoshimura of Japan in the last 16.

Andrew Baggaley was also competing in Australia but was eliminated in the group stage, despite winning two of his three matches.