World No.1 and Australian Open defending champion Angelique Kerber is breathing easier after surviving an opening round scare against Lesia Tsurenko on Monday night.
The top-seeded German blew a match point as she lost her bearings midway through her Rod Laver Arena clash with the Ukrainian, ranked 50 places lower, but rallied to a 6-2 5-7 6-2 win.
She had the chance to wrap up the match, serving at 5-4, but was unable to close it out with Tsurenko making her pay, pushing it to a decider on her fifth set point.
Kerber said she was concerned the missed match point opportunity could come back to haunt her.
Before taking last year's crown she was forced to fight back from a match point down in the first round against Japan's Misaki Doi.
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"I was thinking about this when I lost the second set after I had a match point," Kerber admitted after the match.
"I was hoping it wasn't the same ... I'm so happy to be into the second round."
The 28-year-old was taking the positives from the tough encounter, saying it would help her find her rhythm.
"I think it's always good to have a match like this in the first few rounds," Kerber said.
"I mean, it's always tough for everybody to get the rhythm and to start the tournament, especially the first grand slam of the year so I think it was not so bad to have a match like that in the first round."
Last year's Australian Open win was Kerber's breakthrough major title, before she went on to also clinch the US Open crown which elevated her to the top ranking.
She lived up to her billing in the opening set, breaking Tsurenko at 2-2 and then reeling off seven straight games with her power forehand doing plenty of damage.
But errors started to creep into her game and her serve went wayward.
After Tsurenko, who hasn't gone past the opening round at Melbourne Park in her past three attempts, fought back to clinch the second, the third set was one-way traffic.
Kerber will next face compatriot and world No.89 Carina Witthoeft, who overcame Japanese qualifier Eri Hozumi 7-5 7-6 (8-6).
