Thanasi Kokkinakis has showed plenty of resolve to win through a gritty encounter with Argentine Juan Monaco at the Indian Wells Masters in California.
The Australian teenager triumphed 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) over the world number 48 on Tuesday (AEDT) to move into the fourth round where he will face countryman Bernard Tomic.
Tomic defeated eighth-seed David Ferrer of Spain 7-5, 6-4.
After dominating the first set, Kokkinakis conceded the second before taking an injury time-out in the third as he appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion.
He recovered to take control once more, but missed his opportunity to seal the match when a Monaco passing shot on match point landed wide but was called in, with the Australian unable to overturn the decision having used up all his challenges.
He was able to finish the job in the tie breaker, however, to become the first teenager to reach a Masters 1000 round of 16 since Tomic in Cincinnati in 2012.
Tomic defeated Ferrer for the first time in his career, having lost their previous three matches.
The Australian was gritty on serve, saving 11 of 13 break points against him.
He also broke Ferrer on four occasions, taking advantage of seven break points from the Spaniard.
Meanwhile, Australian Open champion and world number one Novak Djokovic continued his bid for a fourth title at Indian Wells after beating Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-5, 6-3.
Source: ABC/Reuters