Comeback queen Justine Henin breathed a huge sigh of relief after dodging a bullet against Russia's Alisa Kleybanova in the third round of the Australian Open.
Henin seemed headed for certain defeat when she was trailing 3-6, 1-3 and 15-40 before she staged a remarkable recovery to eventually overhaul the 27th seed 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours, 20 minutes.
The 27-year-old Belgian, playing her first grand slam since coming out of retirement, will now take on fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth round, with a quarter-final against Kim Clijsters a real possibility.
It was Henin's second marathon match in succession following her win over Elena Dementieva in almost three hours in the second round, with the five hours spent on court surely taking their toll.
"Well, I face a few issues, and my body suffered a lot," conceded the former wolrd No 1. "It's not used to it anymore. I didn't have 48 hours (since her last match) - it's been quite a short recovery time.
"I slept terribly. I didn't get to bed until 2am when I beat Dementieva and I slept only five hours. Not that much last night (either).
"When I woke up this morning, I felt it was going to be tough today because I was tired."
Henin said she just clung on against Kleybanova and waited for the big-serving Russian to go off the boil.
"I kind of survived a little bit today," she said. "It's always good to win this kind of match because I came back from nowhere.
"I was patient. Slowly but surely it was better," the 2004 champion added. "And she was dangerous because, I mean, when you need the rhythm, especially because physically you're not feeling well, she put a lot of pressure on by serving well.
"That wasn't the kind of game that would help me come into the match, but finally I did it. So I'm very happy that I'm still in the tournament, that I have another chance to get better in the next round."
Henin needed to show all her trademark fighting qualities against Kleybanova, who was just as tenacious as the seven-time Grand Slam winner and matched her for most of the three sets.
Kleybanova began superbly, using her booming big serve to great advantage and pressuring Henin's serve at every opportunity.
Henin eventually cracked and dropped her second service game to go behind, and although she had chances to break back later in the set, Kleybanova held firm to take the first set.
The Russian did not ease off, breaking Henin in the opening game of the second set and jumping out to a 3-1 lead.
But Henin began to look more and more dangerous as her one-handed backhand began to find its range and she broke Kleybanova to even the set at 3-3, then struck again while leading 5-4 to tie the match up at one set apiece.
It was then the turn of the Belgian to come out firing as she skipped away to a 3-0 lead and despite a late stumble Henin was in complete control over the closing stages.
Wickmeyer won her way into the fourth round with a tough 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 win over Italy's Sara Errani.
Meanwhile, Russian Maria Kirilenko equalled her best ever grand slam performance when she outlasted Italian Roberta Vinci 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) to reach the fourth round.
Kirilenko, who dumped former champion Maria Sharapova from the tournament in the first round, saw off the challenge of the gritty Italian in two-and-a-quarter hours.
The 22-year-old world No 58 has been somewhat of an underachiever on the big stage, reaching the fourth round in Melbourne in 2008 but otherwise never making it past the third round at a grand slam.
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