Daria Gavrilova’s Australian Open 2018 campaign has been halted by a mesmerising comeback from Elise Mertens, the Belgian overcoming a horror start to prevail 7-5 6-3 in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Gavrilova, the 23rd seed, shot out of the blocks, stepping in to command the court with several drive volleys to race 5-0 ahead.
Four set points we dissolved as Mertens, champion in Hobart last week, found her groove.
After 38 minutes, Mertens was finally on the board, and the world No.37 was able to tease the errors from Gavrilova.
A further four set points went begging for the home favourite, but Mertens was resolute in defence and managed to complete the opener with seven games in a row.
“She was playing amazing, all the balls were on the lines,” said Mertens, reflecting on the 0-5 deficit.
“I’m glad I carried on fighting, kept believing and proved anything can happen in tennis.”
Mertens, who defeated Gavrilova recently at the Hopman Cup, surrendered serve leading at 5-2, but despite the Aussie’s best efforts, would not be denied passage into the third round.
It was #Millmania on Show Court 3 at AO2018 on Wednesday, with John Millman putting in a monumental effort before he was eventually ousted 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-1 by 28th seed Damir Dzumhur.
The Bosnian and Herzegovinian, seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time, forced Millman to retrieve three smashes in one point, en route to an immediate 2-0 break lead.
Eight straight points for the home favourite restored parity at 4-4. However, world No.30 Dzumhur demonstrated exemplary court coverage to accelerate through five successive games to lead the second set 2-0.
The duo became embroiled in a tight contest at Shenzhen in 2017, which Dzumhur clinched in straight sets, and they tussled in another turbulent affair on Wednesday.
Down 1-3, Millman connected with several arrowed groundstrokes to go on his own run.
In one point, Millman was wide of the tramline, cutting a slice over the net post, before racing to the forehand side to rifle a winner down the line. This time, six consecutive games levelled the intriguing battle and earned an early 1-0 advantage in the third.
Undeterred, Dzumhur began to persistently pick off the Aussie at the net to storm onto the third round.
Matt Ebden’s dreams of a maiden Grand Slam third round were quashed by AO2011 quarterfinalist Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6(0) 6-3 6-4 on Wednesday night.
The world No.78 started brightly and struck a scorching forehand return winner over the net post to cancel out an early break.
Ebden then had two major chances to steal a break lead, but Dolgopolov kept finding the acute angles with crisply struck groundstrokes to stay on course.
At 5-5, Ebden illustrated remarkable retrieval and was rewarded with the chance to serve out the set after the Ukrainian netted a routine smash.
World No.37 Dolgopolov then ramped up the aggression, and claimed 11 successive points to grasp the first set and the initiative.
The Ukrainian is a blistering front-runner and utilised his 49 winners, along with 18 successful surges to the net out of 25 attempts, to accelerate into the last 32.
Teenage sensation Marta Kostyuk ended the hopes of Aussie Olivia Rogowska with an astonishing 6-3 7-5 victory on Wednesday.
Rogowska, targeting the third round for the first time, fought valiantly against the Ukrainian, who has caused quite a stir at Melbourne Park.
The 15-year-old is now the youngest Grand Slam third-round participant since Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in 1997.
“On paper I should have won that match, but credit to her, she was just firing balls right at me, I didn't feel like she was 15 at all,” said Rogowska.
“As soon as I served, like, a ball was at my feet. She did that really well today.”