Thick-skinned Jack Draper delighted in silencing the home crowd with a memorable comeback to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round of the Australian Open.

In scenes reminiscent of Andy Murray’s early morning epic against the same player two years ago, Draper recovered from the brink of defeat to claim a 6-7 (3) 6-3 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory on John Cain Arena.

While Draper’s friend Jacob Fearnley had feared showing any emotion when he took on Nick Kyrgios in the opening round, the British number one was happy to provoke the fans at key moments by cupping his hand to his ear or pumping his fist in their direction.

Draper, who rated it the most hostile atmosphere he has experienced, said: “It was amazing, electric atmosphere. Obviously getting quite a lot of abuse from the crowd in between serves at the back of the court and all that sort of stuff.

“Sometimes you don’t want to rile them or give it back. But, to be fair, it gave me energy doing that. There were times where I was down, then I came through a tough game. And I was feeling it a little bit.

“Obviously some of the stuff they’re saying, it’s not easy to play with. It is a bit of fun. I have a thick skin. Long match. Obviously I was down a lot of the time. It felt nice to give everyone a little thumbs up at the end when I came through.”

The 15th seed was booed onto court and umpire Marijana Veljovic had a difficult time controlling the crowd, with Kokkinakis sportingly giving Draper a point in the fourth set after a disturbance prompted the official to call a let.

Draper admitted he was rusty in his first-round match, where he also scraped a five-set win, after a hip injury disrupted his pre-season, while Kokkinakis has been battling a persistent pectoral problem.

The Australian was wincing from the first game but that did not stop him producing an astonishing display of serving in the first set in particular.

Draper appeared to have turned things around by winning the second but Kokkinakis stepped up again in the third and served for the match in the fourth only for familiar fallibility at the finish line to rear its head again.

Draper won four games in a row to force a decider and withstood more pressure from his opponent and the crowd to reach the third round in Melbourne for the first time, where another Australian awaits in unseeded Aleksandar Vukic.

“I think my tennis was a hell of a lot better than my first round,” said Draper.

“I’m getting hopefully better each set I play. I’m just happy the way I competed. Just a really good match to come through.”

Kokkinakis was livid at the end but more at his physical condition than the result, saying his ongoing problems were “mental torture and physical torture”.

“I’m going to speak to a bunch of experts, probably tomorrow, as soon as I can clear my head and don’t want to punch a wall,” he said.

Fearnley might have expected a quieter evening against Frenchman Arthur Cazaux but Court 6 at Melbourne Park has a bar alongside it and it was so rowdy that the match being played on the neighbouring court was moved, while the Scot’s most vocal supporter ended the contest by being escorted out by security.

The unflappable Fearnley again took it all in his stride, though, recovering from a slow start to win 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-3 and reach the third round at only his second grand slam.

“It was an interesting one,” he said. “I actually didn’t really look at the court before I went on so, when I saw the bar, I was thinking it’s going to be a pretty rowdy atmosphere.

“But, as I settled into the match, I kind of blocked it out as much as I could. Obviously there were some supporters who were extremely drunk, but it was a great atmosphere.”

Fearnley’s reward is a crack at second seed Alexander Zverev on Friday.

Jodie Burrage stepped out onto Rod Laver Arena for a clash with third seed Coco Gauff and played some of the best tennis of her career despite losing 6-3 7-5.

Burrage served for the second set and took great encouragement from her display after considering retirement a couple of months ago as she battled back from wrist and ankle injuries.

“I thought it was on my racket today, and that’s something I can take a lot of confidence in,” said the 25-year-old.

“I ended up serving for that second set and played a horrible game, but sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

Lucky loser Harriet Dart won the first set against 18th seed Donna Vekic but fell to a 4-6 6-0 6-2 defeat.