Australian wildcard Alex Bolt has given No.5 seed Dominic Thiem an almighty scare before bowing out in five sets in the second round of the Australian Open.
The left-handed Bolt led by two sets to one before Thiem steadied to win 6-2 5-7 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-2 in a match lasting three hours and 22 minutes.
Thiem was beaten at the same stage of last year’s Open by another Australian wildcard in Alexei Popyrin.
The two-time French Open finalist from Austria will play either American Taylor Fritz or South African Kevin Anderson in the third round on Saturday.
Earlier on Thursday, Australian duo Ajla Tomaljanovic and Priscilla Hon both bowed out in the second round of the women’s singles.
Tomaljanovic went down 6-3 3-6 6-3 to two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza from Spain and Hon was outclassed 6-3 6-2 by another former world No.1, Angelique Kerber from Germany.