Young Australian wildcard Talia Gibson has let slip a golden opportunity to advance to the third round of a grand slam for the first time, falling to Diana Shnaider at Melbourne Park.

Gibson had three match points in the 10th game of the second set of Wednesday’s AO second-round encounter but failed to convert any of them.

Instead, Shnaider grabbed the lifeline, going on to win 3-6 7-5 6-3 in two hours 13 minutes.

The free-swinging Western Australian did shade the outright winners’ count 39-24.

But a more telling statistic was the 21-year-old’s 49 unforced errors, compared to just 24 from the more composed and match-hardened Russian.

“[Gibson] played amazing and honestly it was very hard to believe that I was able to pull this out and win the match,” said Shnaider, who will play No.21 seed Elina Svitolina from Ukraine in the third round on Friday.

“It was tough and I’m super happy that I was able to do that.”

Gibson had started the tournament strongly with victory over another Russian, Anna Blinkova.

The Australian was in the box seat to advance to the third round of a major for the first time when she had the three match points at 5-4 in the second set.

But once that opportunity slipped by, No.23 seed Shnaider took control as Gibson’s unforced errors continued to mount alarmingly.

While she was left to rue a golden chance gone begging, countrywoman Storm Hunter was clearly outclassed in her second-round clash with Hailey Baptiste.

Hunter is on the comeback trail after recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon.

The 31-year-old had done very well to advance through qualifying, before sending Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on her way in the opening round.

But Baptiste presented a much stiffer challenge, with the powerhouse American winning 6-2 6-1 in a match that lasted little more than an hour.

Another four Australians are in singles action on Wednesday, headed by men’s No.6 seed Alex de Minaur who takes on Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic in the feature night match on Rod Lavera Arena.

The others are marathon man Jordan Thompson, Priscilla Hon and Ajla Tomljanovic.

The total of 11 Australians to have advanced to round two in Melbourne is the equal highest this century.

Oliynykova makes eye-catching Open debut

With a unique look, an unconventional game style and a steely determination to make her absent father proud, Oleksandra Oliynykova delivered the most eye-catching of grand slam debuts at the Australian Open.

Drawn on Rod Laver Arena against Madison Keys, the 25-year-old Ukrainian acquitted herself admirably on Tuesday, racing to a 4-0 lead before the defending champion found her groove.

Keys reeled off four straight winners to close out the opening-set tiebreak and went on to salute 7-6 (8-6) 6-1, but it was Oliynykova who hade the bigger impact on the crowd at Rod Laver Arena and those watching on from afar.

Sporting a large array of permanent tattoos – along with some temporary ones of blue flowers on her face – she was hard to miss.

Oliynykova then attended her post-match press conference wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “I need your help to protect Ukrainian women and children but I can’t talk about it here.”

The articulate Ukrainian then had plenty to say – about tennis and much more important matters.

Her father is serving in the Ukrainian army as it battles Russia.

“He is my biggest supporter and has been since childhood,” Oliynykova said.

“I’m so proud of him and that’s something that’s keeping me motivated even more.

“After he joined the military, I have improved my ranking over 200 places. I know it was his dream to see me on this court and I would do everything to make him proud.

“He told me it was an amazing match – he just texted me and I made his dream come true. What could be a bigger motivation?”

Keys admitted it took her some time to adapt to Oliynykova’s moonball-style ground strokes, something the American hadn’t encountered since her days in the under-12s.

“That’s obviously no disrespect to her at all, but it’s just been a really long time to play someone who plays that style, but she does it so effectively,” said Keys.

“Obviously I wasn’t able to watch her a ton beforehand; there wasn’t a lot that I could actually find online and it was kind of deceiving.

“[Her ground strokes] are so high and so deep.

“I felt like I couldn’t really take a swing volley or take it off of the bounce … but I was genuinely impressed with how well she’s able to hit that ball.”

-AAP