Keeping "positive vibes" has proved the trick for Alex de Minaur in overcoming an early scare to beat Lorenzo Musetti in four sets and book his ticket to the Australian Open second round.
De Minaur has relished his return to Australian soil after a COVID-19 affected 2021, and showed his maturity, recovering from a set down to beat the Italian 3-6 6-3 6-0 6-3.
Musetti previously made the spotlight at last year's French Open, when he took the first two sets off Novak Djokovic in the fourth round before the world No.1 turned things around to win in five.
"He's obviously a very talented player, he's gone to five sets with Novak so I knew it was going to be a very tough match," de Minaur said.
"So happy I was able to come in and turn it around after the first set, play some good tennis and on to the second round.
"The most important thing is I stayed positive the whole match - positive vibes only for 2022. So basically, I'm not allowed to get negative on court."
De Minaur got off to a positive start when he coolly broke Musetti to take a 3-1 lead.
But Musetti quickly turned the tables, winning five games on the spin to seize the first set.
The second set proved a see-sawing affair, with No.32 seed de Minaur and world No.60 Musetti trading breaks before the Australian won out to get back on level footing.
From there, the emboldened Australian turned in an imperious display, ripping through the third set in just 22 minutes.
Musetti took a medical timeout after the third set and received treatment on his left foot.
The extended break between the sets didn't seem to faze de Minaur, who broke Musetti to take a 3-2 lead and dropped just one more game for the set.
The 22-year-old broke Musetti a second time to seal victory and tee up a second-round clash with Poland's Kamil Majchrzak.
