Ninth seed David Ferrer was forced to come from a set behind to beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-7 6-2 6-0 6-3 in the first round of the Australian Open.
© Getty Images
Bellucci immediately proved to the Melbourne crowd that he would be no pushover for Ferrer, who was matched shot for shot in a tight opening set which ended with a tie-break.
After earning one mini-break, Bellucci adopted an aggressive approach to trouble his rival, and his reward was a 7-2 tie-break success.
The door was opened to the Brazilian once again early in the second set as Ferrer lost his serve, but Bellucci repeated the mistake to allow the ninth seed to get back on level terms.
It was the latter stages of the second set when Ferrer started to find his rhythm as the battling Spaniard claimed two more breaks of serve to get back in the match.
© Getty Images
Bellucci appeared powerless to stop the charge of the 32-year-old veteran, who needed just 28 minutes to wrap up the third set without losing a game.
After losing the first set, the odds were stacked against Ferrer, but the victory seemed inevitable heading into the fourth set, and he edged another step closer to the win with a break in the fifth game.
There would be no further twists as Ferrer, who has twice reached the semi-finals in Melbourne, claimed another break to finish the match in style.
Callum Mulvihill
