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MELBOURNE, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Novak Djokovic faced his first major hurdle of this year's Australian Open (AO) on Wednesday, while world No. 2 Simona Halep scraped through her second round match-up after winning five straight games.
Djokovic, who is chasing an unprecedented ninth AO title, found himself battling through two tiebreakers against Frances Tiafo from the United States, before pulling ahead for a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory.
"If I had to choose I wouldn't like to have these matches early in the week, but the matches are only going to get tougher. I know how to handle these circumstances, but I was lucky to get through the third set, it was anyone's game. It was high-quality tennis," Djokovic said.
Later Halep clambered back from 5-2 down in a deciding third set against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, winning five straight games to progress to round three.
"I was blaming myself that I'm not strong enough to play this girl. But in the end, mentally I think I was a little bit stronger and I had the desire to win the match and I didn't want to give up," Halep said.
Former AO champion Stan Wawrinka was not so lucky -- coming within reach of pulling off his own miraculous comeback, before succumbing to Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, 5-7, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (9).
The 2014 AO winner from Switzerland squandered three match points to lose the match after an exhausting four hour battle.
"I had some chance to finish the match, I didn't finish, I hesitated a little bit when I had the match point and I lost it. He was fighting well, he's a tough player, he's a good player and he deserved to win," Wawrinka said in a post-match interview.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams progressed with ease, beating Nina Stojanovic 6-3, 6-0, while sister Venus exited the competition after suffering an injury during her match with Italian Sara Errani, resulting in a 6-1, 6-0 loss.
The 40-year-old seven-time Grand Slam winner played much of the match on a rolled ankle, choosing not to retire despite visibly being in pain, with her determination drawing admiration from spectators online.
Elsewhere, world No. 3 Naomi Osaka powered past her second round opponent Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-3, while Dominic Thiem beat Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, and Garbine Muguruza toppled Ludmilla Samsonova 6-3, 6-1. Enditem