Three years after having a break from tennis and taking up labouring, journeyman Alex Bolt has broken through for a maiden grand slam win on home soil in the opening round of the Australian Open.
The 26-year-old South Australian wildcard came from behind on Tuesday to topple American Jack Sock 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 in front of a packed Court 7 crowd that included Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt and Tony Roche.
Bolt, who took a break from the sport in 2016 and worked with his brother, embraced his family court side after the two-hour-and-13-minute win.
"It's a pretty surreal feeling. I went over and gave my mum a bit of a hug, my dad was here, my brother flew over," Bolt said.
"A couple of other friends from Murray Bridge flew over. It was really nice to play in front of them."
Bolt out served Sock, also a tournament wildcard, sending down 22 aces to 13 and converting six of 13 break point chances.
The world No.155 broke twice in the final set to run away with the match in hot conditions.
Bolt's three previous appearances in main draws at majors ended in first-round defeats, last year at Wimbledon and at the previous two editions of the Australian Open.
"I'm up there playing the best tennis I've played. And I still feel I can play better. So, good things are to come," he said.
Bolt has joined countrymen Alex de Minaur, Jordan Thompson, John Millman and Matthew Ebden in the second round, where he'll meet French No.29 seed Gilles Simon.
Simon breezed past American qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo, named after Swedish great Bjorn Borg, 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-2.
Bolt is guaranteed at least $105,000 in prize money for making the second round.
