A shattered Andrew Harris was on Friday ruing missing a golden opportunity, after nerves and cramp ruined his second round match of Australian Open qualifying.
Having made the first break of the tight match against fifth seed Andreas Beck at the start of the third set, the Australian was overcome by cramp.
Harris, exploited by the former world No.39 German, conceded six of the final seven games to lose 7-6 (10-8) 6-7 (7-1) 6-4 in two hours and 29 minutes.
"It's a very disappointing finish," Harris told AAP.
"Had I got that first set, I could have maybe closed the match out in two."
Harris had his German opponent on a platter in the first set tiebreak, only for desperate play from Beck cause Harris' 6-0 lead evaporate.
"To his credit, he did start playing his best tennis. He started dictating the points," said Harris.
"It is obviously very shattering."
Presented with another handful of set points in the second set tiebreak, Harris made no mistake serving his ninth ace down the T to force a deciding set.
Harris did not put the left leg cramp down to conditioning, despite struggling to play past the two-hour mark on a 27-degree day.
"I've probably put too much pressure on myself and I was more nervous than normal," said the world No.497.
"I don't usually cramp."
Anastasia Rodionova also had a disappointing finish, losing to former world No.11 Shahar Peer 6-1 3-6 6-1.
Rodionova said, despite the final set scoreline, she had played good tennis.
"I just didn't convert the points I needed to convert," said Rodionova.
"I wouldn't say I played bad in the third set... (Peer) was just very consistent."
Peer, who missed automatic qualification for the year's opening slam for the first time in a decade, is now one match away from the main draw.
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