Tennis officials have been branded "barbaric" as Australia slumped to a shock 2-0 deficit in a dramatic start to their second-round Davis Cup qualifying tie against Belgium in Sydney.
Lowly ranked Raphael Collignon overcame severe cramping to upset world No.8 Alex de Minaur 7-5 3-6 6-3 in a three-hour, 12-minute epic before Zizou Bergs beat Jordan Thompson 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in Saturday's second singles rubber.
"A brutal loss, a tough day at the office and, yeah, one I'm going to have to forget quite quickly," de Minaur said.
The twin defeats leave Australia needing to recover from 2-0 down for only the second time in almost a century to reach the quarter-finals for a fourth straight year.
Two-time Cup-winning great Todd Woodbridge was furious officials didn't call for a physio to treat Collignon when he was writhing in agony on the court midway through the opening game of the deciding set against de Minaur.
"This is ridiculous," Woodbridge said in commentary for the Nine Network.
"This is so, so cruel. Get the physio out there, for heaven's sake. This is more important (than the result). This is a health issue now."
Both the tournament doctor and referee came to the court to assist the 23-year-old, but Woodbridge said that was "not enough".
"I've just sent a couple of messages just trying to clarify what the ruling is here because I thought the understanding was that we got rid of the barbaric look of what we've just seen," the doubles legend said.
Not allowed a medical time-out because cramping is deemed to be the result of a "lack of conditioning", Collignon took his cap off and appeared to be walking to the umpire's chair to shake hands during that first game of the third set.
But the world No.91 changed his mind, played on, fended off six break points and heroically battled to the biggest win of his career.
"It feels amazing. I thought I wouldn't be able to finish," Collignon said.
"I tried to play with that strength, tried to go for it, focus on the serve and I don't know how I won. Yeah, crazy.
"I think when you play for your country there is no pain."
Playing for his country and riding high two weeks after taking down dual grand slam finalist and world No.12 Casper Ruud at the US Open, it was understandable why Collignon did not wish to surrender.
While hoping teammates Sander Gille and Joran Vliegan can take down Australian Cup debutant Rinky Hijikata and Olympic gold medallist John Peers in Sunday's doubles to secure Belgium the tie, the warrior said he would play on one leg if required for the reverse singles.
In what could yet be the deciding rubber, Collignon is slated to play Thompson, presuming Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt keeps the faith with his No.2 following a deflating loss to Bergs.
Should Australia win the doubles, de Minaur will have the chance to level the tie against Bergs as the 2022 and 2023 Davis Cup runners-up bid to qualify for the Final 8 in Italy in November.
The only times Australia have won from 2-0 down were in the 1939 final and in 2015, when Hewitt inspired a famous comeback in the quarter-finals against Kazakhstan in Darwin.
"There's nothing better than a comeback story so that's the goal tomorrow," de Minaur said.
"We're a long way from being done and we can just as easily turn this thing around."
