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Grigor Dimitrov had to battle a determined young opponent and the hot weather in a tough four-setter to move through to the fourth round of the Australian Open.
The number three seed and Russian Andrey Rublev were locked in a fierce battle that saw long points, games and sets despite the incredibly difficult conditions.
After beating qualifiers in his first two matches, the third-seeded Dimitrov had a much more difficult time against the 30th-seeded Rublev.
Serving for the match, Dimitrov faced a break point before advancing on his first match point, clinching it with a winner off a Rublev drop shot.
The win has Dimitrov in line for a possible meeting with Nick Kyrgios, provided the Aussie gets past Jo Wilfried Tsonga on Friday night.
France's Alize Cornet became the latest player to fall foul of the extreme heat in Melbourne, saying she suffered dizzy spells in her loss to Elise Mertens.
Cornet slumped to the court after serving during the second set of her 7-5 6-4 defeat by Mertens at the Hisense Arena and needed a medical assessment as temperatures pushed past 40 degrees Celsius at Melbourne Park.
The tournament's extreme heat policy, which involves closing the roofs of the stadiums and suspending outdoor matches, is invoked when the ambient temperature exceeds 40C and the wet bulb globe temperature index reading exceeds 32.5C.
Organisers said the brutal conditions did not meet the thresholds, however.
"Playing at this time was probably the worst time of the day," former world-number-11 Cornet told reporters.
"I kind of felt that I could faint at any moment.
"I think it could be dangerous, but I think that the fact the doctor came on the court and took my blood pressure and she was looking if I was feeling good enough to keep playing the match ... They are very careful about that.
"But still, you know, playing in this condition is of course very dangerous for the health of the player.
"The limit of not playing the match is really high, it's like it needs to be above 45 degrees and humidity. I think this limit should be a little lower because playing in this condition is not nice for anyone.
"The crowd was in the shade but for the player it's incredibly tough."
A number of players have complained of being made to play in the conditions during the heatwave that descended on Melbourne this week.
Cornet's compatriot Gael Monfils felt he was "dying" during his four-set loss to Novak Djokovic on Thursday and said it was tough to breathe.
ABC/Wires
Topics: australian-open, tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia