Aussie young gun Alexei Popyrin has pulled off one of the upsets of the Australian Open, defeating Taylor Fritz in a five-set thriller.

Popyrin played out of his skin to defeat the highly fancied eighth seed 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-7 6-2.

He took it right up to Fritz in a scintillating performance, including a brilliant third set in which he didn’t lose a single point on serve.

He raced through the final set to book his spot in the third round, equalling his best-ever result at a grand slam.

The 23-year-old is the first Aussie man to beat a top 10 player at the Australian Open since 2005.