Jack Draper made it through the first round of the Australian Open in five sets for the second year in a row.
12 months ago, the British No. 1 vomited into a bin on the pitch at the end of a grueling win over Marcos Giron in intense heat in Melbourne.
This time it was cooler and cooler, with Draper's biggest problem against Argentina's Mariano Navone due to his own inconsistency after a disrupted build-up caused by a hip injury.
Draper made an incredible 88 unforced errors and looked set to go down two sets to one, but dug himself out of a big hole to win 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2 after four hours and one minute. .
The 15th seed threw his arms in the air after Navone's final return flew wide before puffing out his cheeks and giving his opponent a weary hug.
Draper was forced to miss training with Carlos Alcaraz and the United Cup due to a hip problem he picked up in pre-season, but spoke confidently of his prospects ahead of the tournament.
However, the 23-year-old looked clumsy from the outset, dropping errors and errant shots as Navone went into an early break.
The British star, a potential dark horse after making a run to the US Open semi-finals, settled into the contest in the second set and appeared to have turned the corner when he broke serve to start the third.
But instead the errors returned and he dropped serve twice in a row, and in the 47th Navone took the set.
History almost repeated itself in the fourth set as Draper broke early only to come back, and had Navone taken more than one of his five break points, he might have emerged victorious.
But Draper dug in, broke again to lead 5-3 and was finally able to find some breathing room in the deciding set as Navone physically felt the pace.
The 23-year-old left-hander was Britain's third winner of the day continued by Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart.
What's coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?
- ABN AMRO Open Rotterdam (ATP 500) – February 3-9
- Dallas Open (ATP 500) – February 3-9
- Delray Beach Open (ATP 250) – February 10-16
- IEB+ Argentina Open (ATP 250) – February 10-16
- Open 13 Provence (ATP 250) – February 10-16
- Transylvania Open (WTA 250) – February 3-9
- Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open (WTA 500) – February 3-8
- Qatar TotalEnergies Open (WTA 1000) – 9.-15. February
- Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (WTA 1000) – February 16-22
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