Bernard Tomic has enjoyed his first main draw tennis win in more than three months after downing Joao Sousa in the opening round of the Japan Open on Monday.
Tomic, who is having a horror season and has dropped from No.19 in the world 13 months ago to his current rank of No.162, prevailed over the Portuguese 6-3 3-6 6-3.
The Australian looked more motivated then during his recent lean trot which saw him go without winning a match dating back to June at Queen's where he made it to the quarter-finals.
That showing was a rare bright patch in a season where he's logged 12 first round defeats from 18 main draw singles.
Tomic broke Sousa's first service game on Monday and while handing the advantage back, wrested control again to take the set.
He lapsed in the second but held firm when challenged in the decider, stealing a break and fending off challenges on his own serve to take the match in one hour and 46 minutes.
He'll take on the winner of Diego Schwartzman and Donald Young for a spot in the third round.
With the season winding down the Gold Coaster will be looking for a deep run in Japan in the fast fading hope of getting his ranking close to a direct entry point for the Australian Open in January.
Tomic will likely need to be ranked in the top 105 in the world for that to happen.
Otherwise he'll require a wildcard from Tennis Australia - a body he's consistently had a difficult relationship with - or be forced into qualifying.
The last time he went down the latter path was as an unranked 15 year-old back in 2008.
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