Maria Sakkari's early horror show turned into a bona fide thriller, but there'd be no happy ending for the Greek who lost the opening rubber of the United Cup semi-final to Italy's Martina Trevisan.
The world No.6 went in as a warm favourite in Sydney, having not dropped a set during her three singles wins to start the competition.
Trevisan, the world No.27, had been patchy at best with only one, three-set win.
But form went out the window, often along with Sakkari's groundstrokes, as Trevisan prevailed 6-3 6-7 (7-5) 7-5 in a three-hour and 15-minute epic.
Trevisan broke Sakkari in her opening service game of the match and ultimately established a 4-2 lead.
Some 22 unforced errors flowed from Sakkari's racquet in the first set, including a diabolical ninth game where she netted a backhand, struck a ball long, double-faulted and missed a regulation volley to hand her opponent a 6-3 advantage.
The rot continued in the second as Trevisan took a 2-0 lead before the two-time grand slam semi-finalist suddenly started to get her game together.
Sakkari broke back and pushed ahead with another in the seventh game, ultimately serving for the set at 5-4.
But Trevisan flipped the script again, snatching the break back to level the contest.
The key moment in the tiebreak came at 4-4, Trevisan dominating the rally only for Sakkari to pull out a superb slapped forehand on defence to win the point.
While she levelled the match, Sakkari struggled to kick on in the third, a net cord giving Trevisan the break for 3-2.
The ever-smiling Italian couldn't hold that one but broke Sakkari in the 11th game before serving out the match.
In the evening's men's singles match, Italian Lorenzo Musetti will play Greece's Stefanos Sakellaridis.
The second men's and women's singles and mixed doubles feature on Saturday.
