QUALIFIER Harriet Dart bucked the trend of British disappointment at the Australian Open today to record her first main draw victory in dramatic fashion.

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

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

Dart lost eight games in a row to go from 2-0 up in the opener to 2-0 down in the second set, but dug in admirably and looked poised for victory at 6-5, 40-15 in the deciding set only to miss two forehands.

Her chance seemed to have gone when Doi opened up a 5-1 lead in the deciding first-to-10 tie-break but Dart refused to let the match slide away and booked a second-round date with Wimbledon champion Simona Halep.

The 23-year-old said: “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.”

Konta — the British number one — 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 at Melbourne Park.

Konta had only played one match since early September because of a knee injury that might have kept her away from Australia.

She said: “I think ultimately the main thing was to start playing again — and I am. And how I physically felt out there is obviously a massive tick for me compared to where I was in September of last year.”

Edmund had a tough draw against in-form 24th seed Dusan Lajovic but had led 5-2 when the rain arrived on Monday.

But Lajovic won three straight games on the resumption and took the opening set on a tie-break to the delight of his noisy fans.

The match continued to be close but any glimmers for Edmund were snuffed out by Lajovic, who completed the 7-6 (7) 6-3 7-6 (4) victory with a running forehand winner.