Story highlights Safarova saves a record-matching nine match points in second setPlays Serena Williams next, after Williams eased past Belinda BencicRafael Nadal didn't face a break point in beating Florian MayerNovak Djokovic defeats Fernando Verdasco in three setsMelbourne (CNN) Match points and Lucie Safarova have quite a history. After barely missing on a match point against eventual champion Li Na here at the Australian Open in 2014 and saving match points in two different encounters at Wimbledon last year, the Czech saved nine of them against Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer in a 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 victory that overshadowed the punishing heat. Safarova's escape act in the first round tied the most known match points saved at a grand slam in the Open Era: Chanda Rubin pulled off the feat in 1995 at the French Open, Vincent Spadea did it in 2004 at Roland Garros and Nick Kyrgios added to the list in 2014 at Wimbledon. "Actually when I was saving the match points, I thought about the match against Li," Safarova, who erred on a backhand down the line against Li with the Chinese baseliner stranded in the third round affair, told reporters. "I was like, 'I lost that one so I could get it back here.'

Source: CNN January 17, 2017 07:24 UTC