Andreas Seppi booked his place in the last 16 of the Australian Open on Saturday with an energy-sapping victory over 12th seed Marin Cilic.
The 21st seed, who until this year had never progressed beyond the second round in Melbourne, was on court for 218 minutes before eventually prevailing 6-7 6-3 2-6 6-4 6-2.
Both players exchanged two breaks of serve in the opening set, which eventually went the way of Cilic, who stormed to a 7-2 success in a tie-break.
Aided by 14 unforced errors from his Croatian opponent, Seppi levelled the match in set two, but the Italian was then blowed away in the third, as Cilic found his range.
However, Cilic's form deserted him once again and he produced a further 29 unforced errors as Seppi won 65 of the next 118 points to win sets four and five.
Seppi will face Jeremy Chardy in round four after the Frenchman produced the shock of the tournament so far by beating sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro.
Robert Summerscales
