Luciano Darderi beat Cristian Garin in his opening match at the Australian Open on Tuesday - and then sprinted straight off the court. The No. 22 seed won three tight sets 7-6(5) 7-5 7-6(3) on the 1573 Arena to advance to the second round here for the first time in his career. But there was no time to celebrate as Darderi made a swift exit.

The Italian had been struggling with his stomach during the third set. He was seen holding a sick bag while leading 5-4, and doubled over in pain while serving for the match. Darderi got broken and was seen by the trainer in the next changeover, leaving the court for a quick toilet break while Garin was having treatment at 5-6 in the third set.

Darderi returned to win the match in a third-set tiebreak, before making another beeline for the bathroom. The 23-year-old ran to the other side of the net to shake hands with Garin and ran right off the court.

"Sprinting to the net is Luciano Darderi, in fact he might be sprinting to shake [hands] and leave the court... he is," commentator Mike Cation said. "Wild scenes for Luciano Darderi, who has left the building! Stomach cramps and all, and he picks up his first-ever Australian Open main draw win, and won't celebrate on court."

The 22nd seed did reappear a few minutes later to thank the crowd for their support - and to give one fan a gift, a racket he broke towards the end of the third set. After leaving the court for the second time, Darderi had some time to gather himself before explaining what happened.

"I started to feel a little bit pain in my stomach in the last set, but I manage it, and finally we take the victory, because if I lost the third set, then I think it's going to be a problem on the last two sets," the Italian later explained.

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It was a milestone moment for Darderi, who had never won a match in Melbourne Park before. The current world No. 25 also has a good relationship with Garin, and the pair will join forces on the doubles court on Wednesday.

Darderi added: "Yeah, it was difficult match, because we practice together with the same fitness coach with Cristian. We play doubles together tomorrow. So it was really difficult match."

The No. 22 seed will now face Sebastian Baez for a place in the third round. And Darderi wasn't the only Italian player to struggle with their stomach at the Aussie Open, as 20th seed Flavio Cobolli battled a sudden sickness during his first-round loss to Arthur Fery.

He later told Italian media: "Today I woke up with a stomach problem - you can imagine what it was. I didn't vomit, but I lost a lot of fluids and suffered from stomach pain throughout the first set. I couldn't help it, it's something you can't control. I thought I'd get better game after game, but now I'm even worse. Everything was under control until half an hour before the match, I even warmed up well. As soon as I stepped onto the court, I started feeling severe pain and had to go to the bathroom, but the rules don't allow it."