For the second straight year, local hope Matthew Ebden has let slip a two-set lead at the Australian Open.
The South African-born Ebden looked on course for an upset victory over No.23 seed Mikhail Youzhny on day one at Melbourne Park when he raced through the second-set tiebreak.
But the Russian veteran refused to yield, fighting off a match point in the 10th game of the fourth set before going on to win 4-6 6-7 (0-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.
Ebden – who has never won a five-set match – also crashed out in the second round of last year’s Open to Japan’s Kei Nishikori after winning the first two sets.
It was one of several near-misses for the Australian support cast on a day when leading women’s hope Samantha Stosur overcame a first-set scare to beat Taiwan’s Kai-Chen Chang 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
It was the ninth-seeded Stosur’s first win of 2013 after first-round losses in Brisbane and Sydney.
Teen star Ashleigh Barty started brightly on Monday against women’s No.15 seed Dominika Cibulkova.
But after dropping the first set, the Slovakian lifted to reel off 12 of the next 13 games and win 3-6 6-0 6-1.
“After I got that first set I dropped off a little bit,” said Barty.
“I think that was nerves.
“She was able to pounce on me pretty quickly. That’s why she’s ranked 15 in the world.
“Once she got the momentum I wasn’t able to stop her.”
Olivia Rogowska also got into a winning position before bowing out 5-7 7-5 8-6 to Serbian qualifier Vesna Dolonc.
Rogowska led 3-0 and 4-1 in the deciding set but couldn’t close the deal.
Red-hot Agnieszka Radwanska started slowly before over-running West Australian Bojana Bobusic.
The No.4 seed from Poland won the last nine games on the trot in her 7-5 6-0 victory.
Radwanska has been the form player in women’s tennis in the opening month of 2013, winning back-to-back tournaments in Auckland and Sydney, trouncing Cibulkova 6-0 6-0 in last week’s title match at Olympic Park.
Kiwi-turned-Australian Sacha Jones lost 6-3 6-2 to Kristyna Pliskova from the Czech Republic.