An emotional Arina Rodionova has won her first ever Grand Slam main-draw match after saving seven match points to beat 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Wimbledon.
World No.166 Arina Rodionova has saved seven match points to emerge as an unlikely saviour on a forgettable day for Australia at Wimbledon.
In the biggest win of her career, Rodionova clawed her way into the second round with a heart-stopping 3-6 7-6(6) 9-7 win over 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a quarterfinalist last year.
The Melbourne-based, Russian-born 27-year-old held her nerve through a desperate second-set tiebreaker before surviving an equally thrilling third set to post her first top-20 win since 2011.
