Australian Open wildcard Melisa Ercan battled through the pain to defeat British veteran Lily Miyazaki during their qualifying match with the former leaving the court in a wheelchair.
The 18-year-old won four consecutive ITF-level women's singles titles last year to make her one to keep an eye on as part of Australia's next generation of tennis stars.
Her impressive displays last year earned her a wildcard to her first senior Grand Slam event for this year's Australian Open.
Ercan was drawn to face Miyazaki, who has never qualified for the Australian Open main draw.
Melisa Ercan left the court in a wheelchair
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And the teenage hopeful got off to the perfect start against the British hopeful as she took the opening set 6-4.
The second set appeared all but wrapped up when Ercan opened a 4-1 lead, but she began to suffer cramps and at one point needed help getting back to her feet.
Miyazaki took full advantage of her opponent's issues by winning the next three games to draw level with a tiebreak needed to settle the set.
But Ercan recovered in time to win the tiebreak and progress to the second qualifying round, ending the match in tears.
The teenager was clearly still in some discomfort after the match as she immediately sought treatment while sat in her chair.
Ercan had to be wheeled off the court in the end, but she was applauded by the small crowd in attendance inside the arena.
Injury-permitted, Ercan will face China's Wei Sijia in the next round who defeated No 28 seed Viktoria Hruncakova in her opening qualifying match.
If Ercan gets through that match, she could come up against fellow Aussie wildcard Petra Hule for a spot in the Australian Open main draw.
Melisa Ercan appeared to suffer from leg cramps
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Emma Raducanu originally looked set to be a part of the qualifying rounds at the Australian Open as her special ranking of 103 wasn't enough to give her a spot in the main draw.
The former British No 1's WTA ranking had plummeted to 308 after an injury-ravaged 2023 season.
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But the withdrawal of five players, after Lauren Davis pulled out last week, was enough for Raducanu to make it into the main draw and skip qualifying.
Heather Watson was unable to get through her qualifier against Lulu Sun to join Miyazaki in being knocked out of the competition early.
But British hopefuls Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones are still fighting to make it into the main draw along with Raducanu after both won their first-round qualifiers.
