Nick Kyrgios saves two match points, wins five-set thriller against Frenchman Ugo Humbert

Kyrgios’ favourite Melbourne Park stadium was about 50 per cent full, but the noise the raucous crowd produced willed the Canberran back into the match.

The unflappable Humbert initially encouraged the noise but by the time Kyrgios broke his serve early in the deciding set, frustration had set in.

He crumbled in the fifth set. A pair of double faults in his final service game told the story.

Kyrgios, in contrast, thrived.

After turning the momentum of the match around when he saved two match points, the Australian played with more freedom and crunched winners when he needed them most.

The comeback was one Kyrgios may not have managed in previous years as a part of the match out of his control – a suspect ‘let’ calling machine – bugged him.

The Australian had a pair of lengthy discussions with chair umpire Marijana Veljovic in the second and fifth set after consecutive serves that appeared to clear the cord were called back.

“It’s ruining the game. Will you turn (the ‘let’ calling machine) off?” Kyrgios asked Veljovic in the second set.

“I’m not playing until you turn it off.”

He said the same thing in the deciding set. His concerns faded when he broke Humbert’s second service game.

The break set up a 3-1 lead that he never relinquished.

Humbert saved one match point after his second consecutive double fault when trailing 3-5, but he couldn’t stop Kyrgios on serve a few minutes later.

He sent his first match point on serve wide and Humbert couldn’t manage a return.

Kyrgios fell to his knees as the ball drifted wide, bringing back memories of his five-set win against Karen Khachanov in last year’s third round.

Kyrgios’ concentration briefly waned at the end of the first set – when three wayward drop shots gifted a break to Humbert – and at the conclusion of the third set, but his best tennis was sublime.

That was the level he brought to the end of the fourth set and the decider and Humbert could do little to stop the match from falling Kyrgios’ way.

Thiem won’t let Kyrgios get away with the lapses. The reigning US Open champion has taken his game to another level this summer, even if the faster courts don’t suit his style of play.

“There were some dark things going on in my head,” Kyrgios said post match.

“We live to fight another day.

“(Thiem is) one of the best players in the world – he made the final here last year and took a set off Novak. But I’m not even thinking about that – I’m thinking about doubles tomorrow.”