Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth have been gifted passage into the second round of the Australian Open doubles.
The Australian pair, combining in Hewitt’s farewell Open after their gut-wrenching Davis Cup semi-final loss last year, won 4-6 2-1 after Serbian duo Dusan Lajovic and Viktor Troicki were forced to withdraw.
Lajovic was preparing to return serve when he severely rolled his left ankle.
The result means Hewitt’s 20th Open campaign will continue irrespective of his singles result against eighth seed David Ferrer on Thursday night.
Sam Stosur joined her fellow Australians on the winner’s list, partnering Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova to a straight-sets win.
The 11th seeds defeated Alexandra Dulgheru and Silvia Soler-Espinosa 7-6 6-3.