Thompson's thrilling comeback looked a little tricky towards the end when he gave away one of his two breaks, but he held on, with Matosevic urging him on from one side of the court and the Davis Cup captain, Lleyton Hewitt, for the other.
“Honestly, I think it's more of a mental battle. I'm 30 now and my preseasons are behind me,” Thompson said.
Pavel Kotov had Thompson on the ropes, but couldn't finish the job.Credit: Getty Images
“Obviously I do the preseason now, but I think it counts more when you're younger, and you're doing so much rep work to try to get in shape and build a base, and I think my base is pretty strong. .
“I played for four hours and I hadn't really touched the practice courts too much before this tournament, so it's good to know that it's been taken care of before this tournament starts.”
Equally important, the backhand problem that plagued him in his semi-final defeat at Queen's Club was a non-issue.
loading
There was also animated dialogue at the end of the third set between Thompson and the chair umpire about how long Kotov was taking between points, but that only spurred him on rather than serving as a distraction.
Earlier, top seed Alex Bolt had plenty of chances against eighth seed Casper Ruud of Norway, particularly in the first two sets, but repeatedly failed to capitalize in a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 defeat , 6-4 after saving five. match points
Thompson appeared headed for the same fate in what would have been a disastrous start to Australia's Wimbledon campaign.
Saville, who had not won at Wimbledon since reaching the last 32 six years ago, beat American Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-2, while Vukic made a dramatic comeback from being twice down in the fifth set, and saved a match point in the 10th game: to eliminate Austrian Sebastian Ofner 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10- 8).
Daria Saville makes it to the second round.Credit: Getty Images
“I'm really happy with how I played, and more so how I handled it,” said Saville.
“It's a bit of a relief because I lost the first round at the French Open and the Aus… Today, obviously, there were times when I didn't play well, but I think in the important moments I played a good tennis and I supported myself, instead of feeling anxious”.
Eastbourne runner-up Max Purcell was unable to reproduce his form from last week, going down 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen.
Thompson won a five-set battle against Vukic at this year's Australian Open, and has won four of his last five matches that went the distance. It's six past nine if you go back even further.
loading
It wasn't always that way: Thompson won just two of his first 10 sets to five. However, one such win, at the 2017 Australian Open against Portugal's Joao Sousa, proved crucial in unlocking the belief that helped him realize his five-set potential.
Two sets into a punishing and hot Melbourne day that touched 38 degrees, Thompson, 22, managed to triumph for the first time on that unenviable stage.
“I ended up winning like three, two and one [in the final three sets]and I felt like I was on top of the world,” he said of Sousa's win.
“It gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can come back from any deficit. Obviously you still have to play well, but just knowing that the fitness is taken care of is a big win.”
Still, Thompson insisted after improving his five-set record to 8-11 that he is not relishing the experience and must start better against Nakashima this time after dropping the first two sets 6-2, 6- 2 a year ago.
“I feel like I'm getting old,” he joked. “Two games to love down; it's a mental battle. I was down two sets to love at the French Open and lost the third set 6-0, but obviously it's a different surface.
“I just know it's such a long way home and sometimes it's not too nice, especially being down two sets to love. You have to spend all day trying to get it back and there's no room for error.” .
Marc McGowan is at Wimbledon with the support of Tennis Australia.
Watch Wimbledon 2024 from 1 July live and exclusively on Nine and 9Now with all the matches live ad-free, live and on-demand with center court in 4K on Stan Sport.
