Lleyton Hewitt emerged victorious in what will be the final first round tie of his career, beating fellow Australian James Duckworth on Rod Laver.
The soon-to-be retired veteran certainly had the backing of the crowd, despite facing a fellow countryman, and he took advantage of this to battle to a 7-6 6-2 6-2 victory.
Hewitt takes the lead
The match took place in front of a Rod Laver crowd who didn't know how to feel, whilst Duckworth himself felt even more confused as he stepped forth as the man with the potential to send Hewitt into an early retirement.
Nonetheless, there was no lack of effort from the 23-year-old, who had his own personal targets in mind which required him to try and down and out his Davis Cup captain.
The first set saw momentum swing back and forth between the two players, both enjoying good spells on the court without ever really threatening to overpower the other.
Despite some great points played as both fought hard for an advantage, neither were able to find that breakthrough as the set reached a tiebreak after all was even.
It looked like that was going to be another long one too, Hewitt racing into a 3-0 lead before being pegged back at 4-4. However, the veteran got the luck of a net cord and took the chance of a set point that it brought, claiming the tiebreak by a 7-5 score to take the lead in the match.
Duckworth starts to crumble
Despite how tight the first set was, it took Hewitt until just the third game of the second to set up a superb opportunity to take full control of the match, with a triple break point on offer.
Duckworth defended admirably, but his defence only prolonged the inevitable as his opponent broke on the third opportunity before consolidating his advantage with a strong service game, leading 4-1.
From here, the pressure seemed to get to Duckworth. He was rushing his shots and often going for brute force over placement, struggling to see out service games as Hewitt looked to extend his lead further. It also saw him squander a break point near the end of the set too, the 34-year-old going 5-2 up instead and forcing his younger opponent to serve to stay in the set.
Just as Duckworth looked to have saved himself for the moment in the eight game too, Hewitt's passion and fight shone through, allowing him take the set by a 6-2 score - putting him 2-0 up.
Late fight back not enough
Though he trailed by two sets, the 23-year-old was resilient and fought hard at the beginning of the third set to put pressure on his fellow Aussie.
Despite squandering a couple of break points early on, Duckworth had affected Hewitt enough in the third game of the set to force a double fault out of the veteran which handed him the advantage.
Nonetheless, whilst the youngster's great serve got him out of some sticky situations as he looked to preserve this lead, it was his serve which lost him it too - a double fault on break point for Hewitt leveling the scores at 4-4 in the set.
The veteran served out the next game comfortably enough, putting the pressure back on Duckworth, who was now serving to stay in the tournament.
There were certainly nerves about him too as he aimed to do so, whilst Hewitt stood as cool as you like staring down the court at him, earning a triple match point and clinching victory in three sets on the second with an incredible lob.
The 34-year-old will now face David Ferrer, the eighth seed at this year's Australian Open, in round two as he looks to end his career on a high.