Lajal, ranked 234th by the ATP, who has made it to the main draw of one Grand Slam tournament – last year's Wimbledon Championships – in his career so far, had beaten Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) and Sho Shimabukuro (Japan) in the first two rounds of qualifying in Melbourne.

The opening set was even until 4-4, then Faria, ranked 124th in the world, earned the first break points of the match and was able to convert the second of them. Then, on his own serve, he won the set 6-4 on the second set point. In the second set, Lajal took a 4-2 lead with a break and broke again in the eighth game, winning the set convincingly 6-2.
The deciding set began with a long Lajal service game, where the Estonian saved two break points.
With Lajal leading 2-1, Faria himself saved two break points, but the Estonian again had a break point in his opponent's next service game – which the Portuguese again managed to save, and then broke Lajal's serve in the next game, enough to see Faria through, who won on the first match point he faced.

The entire encounter lasted a little over two hours; Faria is through to his maiden Grand Slam tournament main draw.

Faria served up 14 aces, twice as many as Lajal, though committed nine double faults to the Estonian's two. Both players converted two of the five break points presented to them.

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