Greg Rusedski exorcised a few demons on Tuesday as he beat Swede Jonas Bjorkman 2-6, 6-4, 6-0, 7-6 to reached the second round of the Australian Open for the first time in three years.
The 31-year-old Briton, who was eliminated in the first round last year soon after it was revealed he had failed a drugs test -- an offence of which he was later cleared -- recovered from a slow start to register the win in two hours, 43 minutes.
Rusedski hit nine double faults but also sent down 14 aces to clinch victory, winning the fourth-set 9-7 in a tiebreak.
Having fought his way back up the rankings in the second half of 2004 to his present position of 48, Rusedski said the fight to clear his name had helped make him a stronger player.
"Having gone through what I had to go through last year and the year before that with the injuries, you're either going to get weaker and disappear and fall off the planet, which I could have done when I was 168 in the world," he said.
"But I decided I was going to fight back and got to the top 50, which I think is one of my best accomplishments as a professional tennis player.
"I think it's made me stronger. I'm going to enjoy it and give everything I can to this game.
"This is the first major I've actually been able to prepare for in two years.
"The last two years, with everything happening last year and then the previous year having the two surgeries, I actually had my first real chance to prepare properly for a major."
The former U.S. Open runner-up next plays either second seed Andy Roddick or Georgian Irakli Labadze.
