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Thanasi Kokkinakis has overcome another injury to move through to the Australian Open second round with a stirring win over Russian Roman Safiullin.
Drawing on the fighting Spartan spirit represented in images on his shorts, a gutsy Thanasi Kokkinakis has battled through another injury to win his Australian Open first round clash against Russia's Roman Safiullin.
The Greek-Australian fan favourite came into the tournament under an injury cloud after withdrawing from the Adelaide International with a shoulder complaint and the Brisbane International with a hip injury.
This time Kokkinakis was troubled by a thigh issue which left him barely able to run but he still managed to win 3-6 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
After losing the first set to world No.63 Safiullin, a former Australian Open boys' singles champion, Kokkinakis led 5-2 in the second when he called for the physio then left the court for further treatment.
Despite his obvious discomfort, the 28-year-old closed out the second set to level the match, then banked the third to the delight of the Kia Arena crowd.
Regularly wincing in pain in the fourth set, the injury-prone world No.71 showed his grit, saving an incredible 18 break points from 22 through the match.
While the South Australian changed his shirt, he kept his blue shorts which featured images of Spartan soldiers in a nod to his ancestry.
Kokkinakis dropped his serve to trail 3-4 but then stared down Safiullin, breaking straight back.
The pair continued to go toe to toe, taking the set to a tiebreak, with the big-serving Australian able to seal the win after four hours and five minutes on court.
A winner of the men's doubles title with Nick Kyrgios last year, Kokkinakis said the crowd lifted him to victory.
"You guys willed me through. I was struggling there, I was cooked," he said in his on-court interview.
"I tweaked something but I took some pain killers and battled through, as I had to pull out of Adelaide and didn't want to pull out here.
"I'm super happy to get another crazy win."
Kokkinakis will face British 15th seed Jack Draper in the second round.
