Swiss star Stan Wawrinka has survived a mini-meltdown against Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis to progress through to the second round at Melbourne Park.
The ninth seed, a late starter for the Australian Open with lingering knee pain, dropped seven consecutive games and berated Berankis’ box for talking, but lived to fight another day with a 6-3 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-2) win.
The three-time slam champion’s trademark backhand was on song and he looked to be moving well throughout the two-hour-and-47-minute affair on Hisense Arena.