South African tennis ace Kevin Anderson came from two sets to one down on Tuesday, battling past Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka 6-4, 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) in three hours and 54 minutes to reach the second round of the Australian Open.

The big-serving 33-year-old first recovered from 1-4 down in the fourth set and then saved one match point on serve at 4-5, 30/40 in the deciding set.

He completed victory with an overhead, having gained the decisive mini-break in the final tie-break when he rushed to the net and Ivashka hit a backhand passing stroke wide.

Anderson will next face American 29^th seed Taylor Fritz on Thursday, who beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

The South African, who was ranked fifth in the world in July 2018, recently returned to the tennis court only after a long fight against injury. The 33-year-old South African faces a major challenge if he wants to be among the world’s top players again, as he started in this tournament as number 141 on the world rankings.

* Earlier on Tuesday, Lloyd Harris (officially South Africa’s best player at the tournament with a current world ranking of number 72), lost to Argentine 14th-seed Diego Schwartzman.

Harris’ Australian Open campaign ended after a straight sets loss to the Argentine who won relatively comfortably against the rising South African star with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 score line.

The match lasted just 105 minutes after the 22-year-old Harris dropped serve six times in the match. He won the eventual ace count 8-4 but that mattered little on a day when he also made 47 unforced errors against 18 by Schwartzman, who has a no. 14 world ranking.

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