Ballboy narrowly avoids racquet to the face

A ballboy at the Australian Open has narrowly avoided a disaster after a mix-up involving American Lauren Davis on Saturday.

Davis staged a thrilling fightback in her third round clash with World No.1 Simona Halep before going down 4-6 6-4 15-13 in a three hours and 44 minute epic.

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However, the American was at the centre of a scary incident during the third set of the match on Rod Laver Arena.

The 76th-ranked Davis sent a shot sailing just long over the baseline where Halep was standing, with the Romanian swatting the ball casually back over the net as it was called out.

The eager ballboy had already committed to running onto court to retrieve the ball but Davis only had eyes for the ball and didn't see him coming.

Davis, despite knowing she had already lost the point, still ran up to the ball and swung her racquet at it, missing the oncoming ballboy's face by mere centimetres.

The close calls continued during the match with both competitors playing out one of the matches of the tournament so far.

Halep failed to serve it out three times -- at 5-4, 6-5 and 8-7 -- before breaking the 24-year-old Davis in the 27th game of the 140-minute final set and holding for the remarkable victory.

"Definitely it was a very tough match. So long," Halep said after equalling the Australian Open women's record for most games in a match.

"I've never played a third set so long so I'm very happy to win it. I'm almost dead!

"It's very nice that we could show good tennis, I hope you guys enjoyed it."

Halep conceded she could not feel her dodgy ankle by the end of the match, which she injured in the first round of the tournament.

The first match points for either player came in the 22nd game of the final set, when Davis earned three on Halep's serve but lost them all.

Davis required a medical timeout at 11-all after telling the chair umpire her toenail had fallen off.

Halep, 26, held five break points in the following game but the youngster saved them all in a mighty mental effort.

Both players produced fantastic tennis in much cooler conditions than had hit the tournament on Thursday and Friday.