World number 62 Jarmila Gajdosova has admitted that she feels "relieved" to have put her Australian Open hoodoo behind her by progressing into round two this morning.
The 27-year-old picked up her first victory in 10 attempts at the tournament with a 6-3 6-4 triumph over Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru.
Gajdosova let out a huge roar following her rare win, revealing afterwards that she is delighted to have finally put her name in the hat for the second round.
"It's been such a long time coming," she is quoted as saying by The Guardian. "Not to be able to do it in your home Grand Slam was very devastating for me. I was very happy and relieved that I got this monkey off my back.
"I do love playing in Australia and I've played well the last couple of weeks. I've won the mixed doubles here, made semis in doubles, won Hobart, made quarters in Brisbane - so I play well here and I can play well here.
"I'm just very happy that the one tournament in my whole career I couldn't break, I finally did. Whatever is going to happen from now on, I'm just going to enjoy it and play the best I can."
Marinko Matosevic, another who has struggled in this Grand Slam event in the past, secured her place in the next round by seeing off Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev 6-4 6-7 4-6 7-5 6-3 in a match lasting close to three-and-a-half hours.
