Twelve months on from his breakout performance at Melbourne Park, Hyeon Chung experienced vastly different emotions as he was dumped in the second round in 2019 by Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Chung, the 24th seed, had few answers to the attacking onslaught posed by the Frenchman, who won 6-2 1-6 6-2 6-4 thanks to 13 aces among 36 winners.
The only blip for Herbert came in that second set, when all his momentum from the first set evaporated when rain fell and forced the closure of the Melbourne Arena roof.
Yet he recalibrated and ran out a relatively comfortable four-set winner in just over two hours.
"Last time I played against Hyeon it was a memorable first round in Wimbledon (a match he won 10-8 in the fifth in 2015) ... I knew it was gonna be a tough battle and I'm so glad I came through and played the level I played today," he said. "Maybe a little bit (hurt by the rain delay in the second set) - I was hitting so well without the roof and then when I came back on court Hyeon played amazing, he was passing me from everywhere on the court.
"I was just lucky enough to find back my level and play that well in the third and in the fourth."
MORE: AO2019 men’s singles results
Herbert is better known for his doubles exploits; the 27-year-old is a former world No.2 in the tandem game with three Grand Slam doubles trophies to his name.
In singles, he's never been higher than No.50 in the world, although that peak came as recently as late October 2018. Currently No.57, he is projected to rise to a new career-best mark of No.43 after his run to the third round at Melbourne Park – the fourth time he has reached this stage at a major tournament.
He's never gone beyond that point.
Chung, however, cleared that bar well and truly at Australian Open 2018. He stunned Novak Djokovic under lights at Rod Laver Arena en route to the semifinals, where severe blisters brought him undone against Roger Federer and forced a premature retirement.
That physical fragility was a constant throughout the season that followed. A lower-leg injury forced him out of eight events – including Roland Garros and Wimbledon – in the middle of 2018 while blisters came back to haunt him in the European fall swing.
With scant form, match-fitness and confidence under his belt coming into 2019, the Korean fell in the first round in straight sets at both Pune and Auckland – the latter loss coming to world No.360 Rubin Statham – and looked set to bomb in the first round at Melbourne Park before coming back to beat Bradley Klahn in five.
Yet the Frenchman proved too sharp on Thursday; it's a loss that will send Chung tumbling from 25th to 50th in the rankings.
Herbert, meanwhile, goes on to face the resurgent 16th seed Milos Raonic, who got past former champion Stan Wawrinka in a tense four-set affair earlier in the day.
"I don't think (Raonic is) gonna be that tired against me in the third round ... he's in confidence," Herbert said.
"But I'm gonna try my best and try to bother him a little bit."