Frances Tiafoe had never played a No. 1, had never beaten anyone in the Top 5, and now he'd just won a tiebreaker against Novak Djokovic to level their second-round match at the Australian Open.
Full of animation in his courtside chair, Tiafoe took the court and said what was obvious to everyone watching: "I love this."
Tiafoe, a 23-year-old American who reached the quarterfinals here two years ago, threw everything he could at eight-time Australian Open champion Djokovic. He pulled the crowd into the contest, too. But it wasn't quite enough, with the defending champion winning 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-3 in a 3 1/2-hour afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena.
The fourth set was on serve and appeared headed for another tiebreaker when Tiafoe was given a time violation on his serve. He lost his temper, and ultimately the game. He didn't win another game in the match, which finished with a double-fault.
Tiafoe shook his head, then jogged to the net to embrace Djokovic. He'll take plenty from this.
Djokovic bowed, touched the court with his hand, and then went into his more customary celebrations.
Djokovic served 26 aces, Tiafoe 23. Djokovic had the edge in terms of winners (56-49) and converted five of his breakpoint chances, while Tiafoe converted two of his three.
Dominic Thiem, who lost the final here last year to Djokovic but went one better to win the US Open, eased through the second round with a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 win over Donimik Koepfer.
Three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion, wasted a big lead in the fifth-set tiebreak — and three match points — before losing 7-5, 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (9) to Marton Fucsovics. Five unforced errors in the last seven points of the tiebreaker cost him the match.
Serena Williams kept her bid for a 24th Grand Slam singles title on track, making only 11 unforced errors as she swept Nina Stojanovic 6-3, 6-0.
But a 21st trip to Melbourne Park ended painfully for her older sister, Venus Williams.
The seven-time major winner was trailing 1-5 in the opening set against Sara Errani when she landed awkwardly on her ankle as she approached the net for a volley. She fought back tears before receiving treatment on the ankle, and gamely continued, hobbling between points, before losing 6-1, 6-0.
The 40-year-old Williams was making her 88th Grand Slam main draw appearance, the most among women in the Open era.
Rebecca Marino, a former top-40 player competing in a major tournament for the first time in eight years, was beaten by No. 19-seeded Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 7-5.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the 2019 Australian Open runner-up, lost to Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Garbiñe Muguruza, the Australian Open runner-up last year, defeated Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-1.
Ann Li, a 20-year-old American, reached the third round for the second major in a row by beating Alize Cornet 6-2, 7-6 (6). No. 7-seeded Aryna Sabalenka eliminated Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (5), 6-3.
In men's play, No. 11 Denis Shapovalov beat veteran Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 and his fellow Canadian Milos Raonic held off Corentin Moutet 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-1, 6-4.
No. 8 Diego Schwartzman and No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime were among the seeded men to advance.
India endured a second successive disappointing result at the Australian Open with Rohan Bopanna and Ben McLachlan bowing out after a close opening-round defeat to Ji Sung Nam and Min-Kyu Song in the men's doubles event.
Bopanna and his Japanese partner lost 4-6 6-7(0) to the Korean wild card pair in one hour and 17 minutes.
Not having enough court time due to hard quarantine seemed to have an effect on Bopanna's sharpness. McLachlan, on his part, struggled to negotiate volleys and that hurt them.
Bopanna had spent 14 days in his room and came out only on January 30, jumping into the tune-up event, only to lose his opening round with Frederik Nielsen.
The Indian did not get enough competition time to be ready for the season's first major.
Bopanna lost his serve in the opening set and that initial break stayed with the Korean players, who executed their plan with precision to take the first set.
It was expected to be an easy match for the Indo-Japanese pair but the good chemistry of the lower-ranked Koreans, who played to their strength, made it tough for them.
Bopanna and McLachlan struggled with returns as Song and Nam easily smashed volley winners to stay ahead.
Failing to put away a volley in the tie-breaker, McLachlan banged his racquet on the court out of frustration, narrowly escaping injury as his racquet bounced off the court to hit him on the head.
A forehand error from the Japanese ended their campaign when Nam served for the match.
India now have Divij Sharan (men's doubles) and debutant Ankita Raina (women's doubles) left in fray.
