British No.5 Liam Broady displayed considerable reserve to come back from two sets down and beat Marinko Matosevic in thrilling fashion in the first round at Wimbledon.
Stockport's Broady was the first Briton in action in this year's tournament, and turned a two-set deficit on its head to set up a second-round clash with Belgium's David Goffin.
Broady belied a poor start and a 44-place deficit in the world rankings to see off Australia's "Mad Dog" Matosevic 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 for his first Wimbledon victory.
Well done @Liambroady 👊😃👍big comeback win
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) June 29, 2015
The 21-year-old wasted a hatful of chances to take control of the first two sets, converting just one of eight break points - but shrugged off that early malaise to storm past the former world No.39.
The reward for that hard-fought victory is a meeting with the 16th seed and world No.15 Goffin, who made light work of a three-set victory over Argentina's Horacio Zeballos early in Monday's action.
Broady opened the match to the strains of "you can do it, Uncle Liam" from one of the younger members of his family supporters, only for the home hope to concede serve straight away. Settling to his task, Broady was able to break back almost straight away, but still let Matosevic close out the set.
Indeed, the hot-tempered Australian, nicknamed "Mad Dog" due to his fiery countenance, was hardly pushed en route to a 2-0 set lead, only once stopping to chide himself for being "close to playing well".
Broady could have been forgiven for similar self-analysis, because once he found his edge and claimed a third-set foothold he turned a low-key loss into a real contest. By the time Bosnia-born Matosevic launched his racquet into the turf in frustration, the clash was Broady's to lose.
Broady duly served out the set 6-2, to tee up a decisive leg that, as with the rest of the contest, ebbed one way almost as quickly as it flowed the other.
Matosevic broke serve only for Broady to strike straight back, in a move that filled him with enough confidence to go the distance.
Broady pilfered another Matosevic service game to move ahead 4-3 - then never looked back, closing out victory in composed fashion.
It wasn't good news for Liam's sister Naomi, however, as the British No.3 went down 7-6(5), 6-3 to unseeded Mariana Duque-Marino.