Tomic advances at Melbourne Park
Bernard Tomic has given himself the chance to make up for a disastrous 2014 by winning his first round match at the Australian Open today.
Tomic beat world number 95 Tobias Kamke 7-5 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 6-2 to advance to the second round.
Having withdrawn from his first round match at the Australian Open last year because of injury, lost in the first round at the French Open and been unable to get on court for his second round at the US Open after another injury, Tomic is finally in a position to compete on the big stage.
For years considered Australia's great white hope, Tomic has been overtaken by Nick Kyrgios as the nation's highest ranked player and biggest name young player.
He wasn't at his best today but showed character to fightback under adversity.
Tomic fought back from 2-5 to win the first set, faced two break points at 1-4 in the second set but forced it to a tie break.
The Australian controlled the third set, broke Kamke in the opening game of the fourth set and then broke again to lead 5-2 and take a stranglehold of the match.
Tomic's serve was a significant strength all day. He served 25 aces compared to Kamke's three.
Tomic will play the winner of 22nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber and France's Paul-Henri Mathieu.
It has been a good day for several Australians with Marinko Matosevic, Jarmila Gajdosova and James Duckworth also winning.
