Buyunchaokete, who announced his arrival at the elite level by fighting into back-to-back semifinals on the ATP Tour last fall, will begin his AO main draw debut against a qualifier.

In a series of "firsts" for Chinese men's tennis, between them, the trio reached five semifinals and two finals on the ATP Tour last year, with the youngest Shang, a 19-year-old prodigy, winning his first, and Chinese men's second, tour-level singles title at the ATP250 event in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in September.

As the leading star and the first Chinese mainland player to crack the men's top-100, Zhang took pride in helping to raise the sport's profile back home, where tennis success was usually the preserve of the nation's women.

"If people are watching us do something, and then trying to follow us, that's great news for us," Zhang told atptour.com last month while representing Team China at the United Cup in Perth.

"Most Chinese people are watching table tennis or badminton at the Olympics, not tennis. But, suddenly, they're watching our final live on TV," Zhang said of his runner-up finish with partner Wang in the mixed doubles final at the Paris Olympics.

"Right away, more people know who we are, and more people are trying to play, trying to learn. That's really good," said the 28-year-old Shanghai native, who reached his first tour-level final at the Hangzhou Open last fall.