Jordan Thompson won his second straight five-set match at Wimbledon
Entering the tournament with a brace for his back, Thompson came from two sets to one down to beat Benjamin Bonzi 7-5 6-7 (2) 4-6 6-2 6-4 in just under four hours to become the first Australian into the third round.
Thompson was inside the world's top 30 before an injury-hit season dropped him to 44 and cats doubt on how deep he could go in London.
But after a stirring opening round victory, Thompson, with Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, watching on, again, defied even his own expectations to set up a next round clash with either Luciano Darderi, ranked 59, or Arthur Fery, the lowly ranked Englishman who upset Alexei Popyrin in the first round.
Frenchman Bonzi took down last year's semi-finalist Daniil Medvedev in the first round and showed that quality again as he pushed Thompson to the limit.
But the gritty Australian showed he's always up for a fight, no matter the state of his body, and after losing the second and third sets took the fourth and then the fifth to put him on the verge of making the fourth round for the first time.
Thompson is one of only a handful of the 17 Australians who started the tournament still alive.
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