Epic Tsonga comeback denies 18yo phenom

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has staged an epic fightback to deny Canadian teen sensation Denis Shapovalov in a pulsating Australian Open second round match.

The 18-year-old gave another stunning reminder of his incredible potential against the 15th seed but ultimately came up short on Wednesday.

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Tsonga rallied from 5-2 down in the deciding set to triumph 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6 7-5 in three hours and 37 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

The Frenchman danced onto the centre of the court after the victory, clearly relieved after surviving an almighty scare against one of tennis' most promising youngsters.

Tsonga faces the winner of Wednesday night's clash between Aussie Nick Kyrgios and Serb Viktor Troicki.

Appearing at his first Australian Open and third grand slam, world No.50 Shapovalov looked to be cruising when he claimed the third set in just 26 minutes.

But Tsonga, 14 years Shapovalov's senior and with almost 600 more career matches to his name, found his serve in the fourth set to send the match to a decider.

With both men chancing their arm at the net, Shapovalov continued to unleash outrageous winners.

But he appeared to lose his nerve in the decider, giving up service breaks at pivotal moments.

It was redemption for Tsonga after he was defeated by Shapovalov in straight sets in the second round of last year's US Open.

Shapovalov went on to make the round of 16 before his dream run was stopped by Pablo Carreno Busta.

The Spanish 10th seed earlier became the first man through to the third round at Melbourne Park following the mid-match retirement of opponent Gilles Simon.

Carreno Busta was leading 6-2 3-0 when the Frenchman pulled the pin.

A semi-finalist at last year's US Open, Carreno Busta took the first set with one of the shots of the tournament - an audacious tweener on the run that lobbed over Simon's head at the net.

The 26-year-old beat Australian wildcard Jason Kubler in the opening round at Melbourne Park on Monday.