He enters the tournament unseeded and ranked 472 in the world, but Gavin van Peperzeel isn’t afraid to dream big as he chases a Futures crown in Wollongong.

The 22-year-old has set himself up for a solid run through the F9 draw at Beaton Park after brushing aside fellow unseeded Aussie hope Luke Harvey in the opening round.

Van Peperzeel looked in fine form on Tuesday as he rolled Harvey in straight sets, winning 6-3 6-2 on his way to a round two showing.

‘‘I started pretty average, I was a little cold and was struggling to find the court,’’ van Peperzeel said.

Related: Globetrotter Nicolas Meister chasing success

‘‘But I managed to pull myself together and level it in the first, then started playing well.’’

He will now wait to find out whether he takes on China’s Yan Bai or US talent Nicolas Meister in round two.

Bai and Meister will battle on Wednesday to progress in the tournament.

For van Peperzeel, the emphatic victory continued an impressive 2014 season.

He reached four consecutive quarter finals in Croatia and Serbia, semi finals in Austria, Germany and Serbia, won the Serbia F8 and pocketed close to $1500, then lost the final of the Turkey F27.

His singles ranking has jumped from 551 at the start of the year to currently be 472.

He has also risen more than 200 spots on the doubles ranking table.

Van Peperzeel has come to Wollongong for one reason.

‘‘Hopefully take the win,’’ he said.

‘‘But I’ll just take it one match at a time.

‘‘Hopefully the body holds together and I have a good week.

‘‘I got one (victory) in Europe a couple of months back...hopefully the second one’s this week.’’

Peperzeel spends a lot of his time travelling the world in pursuit of big prizemoney but only had to trek a few hours south to tackle the Futures tournaments in Wollongong.

Based in Brisbane, he trains at the National Tennis Academy and has been on the ATP circuit for the best part of two years now.

He rates number-one seeded American star Jarmere Jenkins as the player to beat this week, but believes New Zealand’s Jose Statham is a smokey for the top gong.

Meantime, young Australian hopeful Daniel Guccione went out in straight sets as he suffered a 6-3 6-4 round one defeat to Di Wu.