World No.1 Simona Halep has emerged from a titanic third-round scare from Lauren Davis to progress to the second week of the Australian Open - just.
Halep, playing through an ankle concern, dropped the first set before fighting back to defeat the world No.76, 4-6 6-4 15-13, in three hours and 44 minutes on Saturday in the match of the tournament so far.
The Romanian saved three match points at 10-11 in deciding set of the classic, overcoming Davis after the unseeded American lost a toenail in the marathon third set.
"I'm almost dead," Halep said in an on-court interview.
"I've never played a third set so long. I'm very happy I could stay and win it ... it was very nice we could show such good tennis."
The match had everything.
Davis showed her intent in a barnstorming first set, unleashing her powerful backhand to the delight of the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
Halep responded in the second, showing the consistency that had made her world No.1 - hitting just two unforced errors.
The third was simply out of this world.
The 142-minute decider lasted longer than all but six matches to date in the tournament, pushing the match out to tie Chanda Rubin's 1996 quarter-final win over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario for most number of games in a women's singles match at Melbourne Park.
"I gave everything I had today and I'm really proud that I could stay there and win it. It was not easy at all. She played great," Halep said.
Incredibly, Halep served for the set four times but didn't hold a match point until the very last point.
Davis smashed 52 winners but will look back at the missed match points to make a first fourth-round appearance at a grand slam.
She was forced to treat her injured toe shortly after at 11-11, wincing with pain as Halep looked on po-faced.
Davis didn't win another game after a second medical time-out at 13-12, Halep marching on to face the winner of Ashleigh Barty's clash with Naomi Osaka.
That's if she can walk.
"You sit through one of those matches once in every 10 years ... it's never happened to me as a coach," Halep's Australian mentor Darren Cahill told the Seven Network.
"There's a lot of Voltaren and painkillers in her system.
"We'll have to really rehab ... it's a little bit of the unknown. I'm pretty sure she hasn't played a match like that before.
"But the fact she's out there playing with a little bit of a dodgy ankle ... she's a tough chick."
Halep repaid the compliment to Cahill after the match, saying she wouldn't have been able to survive mentally for such a marathon before his tutelage.
"I think now I'm much stronger," she said.
"I was a little bit frustrated ... I felt the pain all match, but I didn't give up.
"I felt the pain (in my ankle). It's not recovered.
"After this match, I think tomorrow is gonna be worse, but I just push, push myself, and we will see what's gonna happen."
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