Rusedski off to flying start

Greg Rusedski was at his gutsy best as he came through a tough first-round match against Jonas Bjorkman at the Australian Open.

The British number two came from a set down to complete a superb 2-6 6-4 6-0 7-6 victory against the Swedish veteran.

Rusedski suffered two early breaks of serve on court three as Bjorkman produced some trademark returns and passing shots to take the opening set 6-2.

The Canadian-born left-hander contributed to his own downfall with double faults to go 0-30 down on both occasions he was broken, and Bjorkman closed out the set to the delight of the noisy Swedish contingent in the crowd with a superb backhand return winner cross court.

The second set was an entirely different affair however, Rusedski dominating from start to finish.

The 31-year-old broke Bjorkman’s serve in the opening game and the Swede, a year older, had to save three break points in each of his next two service games just to stay in touch.

Rusedski, who had beaten Bjorkman in both of their previous meetings in Grand Slams – most significantly in the US Open semi-final in 1997 – had few problems on his own serve and took the set 6-4 to level the match.

The momentum was firmly with Rusedski and he again broke Bjorkman’s serve at the start of the third set.

The world number 48, who lost in the first round here 12 months ago, then stormed through the rest of the set without dropping a game to move within sight of a second-round berth.

It looked as though Rusedski was going to be taken to a fifth set when Bjorkman served for the fourth set at 5-3.

But the 31-year-old broke straight back and eventually took the set to a tie-break which he won 9-7.