Qualifier Harriet Dart bucked the trend of British disappointment on the second day of action at the Australian Open to record her first main draw victory at Melbourne Park in dramatic fashion.

Twelve months after failing to win a game against Maria Sharapova, Dart won nine of the last 10 points to beat Japan’s Misaki Doi 2-6 6-4 7-6 after two hours and 49 minutes.

The 23-year-old said: “I’m just really proud of the way I was able to keep composed and was able to get over the line in the end.

“It was definitely tricky, at 6-5 obviously having the match points, I just really had to keep it together. Keep her working hard and give it your best and, if that’s not good enough, then that’s her day.”

It was a much-needed British success story after defeats for Johanna Konta, Kyle Edmund, Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie.

Konta was the 12th seed but she lasted little over an hour against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur before going down 6-4 6-2 - the first time she has lost in the opening round.

Edmund, like Konta a previous semi-finalist here, had a tough draw against in-form 24th seed Dusan Lajovic but had led 5-2 when the rain arrived on Monday.

Lajovic won three straight games on the resumption though, and took the opening set on a tie-break.

The match continued to be close but any glimmers for Edmund were snuffed out by Lajovic, who completed the 7-6 6-3 7-6 victory with a running forehand winner.

Boulter was back on the grand-slam stage for the first time since reaching the second round here 12 months ago after a back injury ruled her out for six months.

She had a very tough draw against fifth seed Elina Svitolina and acquitted herself well before going down 6-4 7-5.

Norrie led France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert by two sets to one but let his momentum slip away and fell to a 7-5 3-6 3-6 7-5 6-4 defeat.

Heather Watson’s first-round match against Kristyna Pliskova was postponed.