Marinko Matosevic has finally broken his grand slam duck to become the only Australian man to reach the French Open second round.
It was a case of 13th time lucky for Matosevic as he beat German journeyman Dustin Brown 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-7 (7-1) 7-5 at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old had lost all 12 of his previous grand slam singles matches, dating back to the 2010 Australian Open.
After fighting back from 5-1 down in the fourth set to complete the win, the relief was evident.
Brown doubled-faulted on match point and Matosevic dropped to the court and rolled six times, covering himself in the Roland Garros clay, before screaming with joy.
Earlier, compatriots Lleyton Hewitt, Bernard Tomic and Matt Ebden also suffered defeats to join Nick Kyrgios and James Duckworth as male Australian first-round casualties.
Hewitt, playing in his 60th grand slam, started brightly but lost 3-6 6-2 6-1 6-4 to unseeded Argentine Carlos Berlocq.
Tomic turned in a lacklustre display as he continued his recovery from hip surgery, losing to 12th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-2 6-1 7-5 in 97 minutes.
Ebden was thrashed 6-1 6-2 6-3 by Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas.
Matosevic was impressive in taking a two-set lead but it looked like another golden opportunity to end his drought was slipping away.
Brown easily won the third set tie-breaker and raced to a 5-1 lead in the fourth before the world No.66 showed the fight that had been previously lacking in his grand slam career.
His reward for reaching his first grand slam second round is a meeting with British seventh seed and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who beat Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev 6-1 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Casey Dellacqua was playing later on Tuesday, hoping to join 19th-seeded compatriot Samantha Stosur in the second round.