China's Zhu Lin defeated in round 1 of the Australian Open

China's Zhu Lin reaches for a return to Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-wei during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, January 16, 2018.  [Photo: Imagine China]

In what was one of the most captivating matches of day two action at the Australian Open on Tuesday, China's Zhu Lin narrowly missed out advancing in the tournament, going down to Hsieh Su-Wei in a grueling 3-set battle.

With the first set finishing 6-0, the 23-year-old Zhu looked more than comfortable.

However the tide completely changed in the second set and the more experienced Chinese Taipei competitor fought back, to reverse the scoreboard 6-0.

"In the first set, she was playing very aggressive," Zhu explained to Xinhua after the match. 

"But then she changed her game style in the second set. She played so well, that I just didn't have any chance to attack, she didn't miss a ball!"

Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in action during her first round match against Zhu Lin of China at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, on January 16, 2018. [Photo: Imagine China]

In an extremely tense third set that had fans on the edge of their seats, Hsieh took the upper hand, and broke Zhu's serve to go two games up at 3-1.

But a determined Zhu held on and broke back to bring the score level set at 3-3.

Immediately after though, a series of unforced errors cost Zhu and Hsieh once again broke serve.

With the score at 3-4 in the third, the 32-year-old appeared to be well on top, but the surprises just kept on coming and Zhu mounted her own comeback to tie the match at 4-4.

Zhu then recovered from 0-40 down, to hold serve and go up by one game.

The incredible drama left the match in balance at 6-6, until Hsieh broke serve yet again to win the bizarre contest 0-6, 6-0, 8-6.

The other Chinese player in action today was world number 44, Wang Qiang, when she faced last year's U.S. Open finalist, Madison Keys.

After being down one set to the American, Wang fought back hard in the second, but was not able to hang on against Keys.

The final score finished 1-6, 5-7.