AN emotional Jelena Dokic scored her first win over a top 20 player in five years when she downed 17th seed Anne Chakvetadze 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open today.

The 25-year-old, who is known as much for her estranged father Damir’s antics during the early part of her career as she is for her tennis, described the crowd’s reaction during the thrilling three-setter as ‘‘amazing’’.

Dokic only picked up her racquet again at the end of 2007 after battling depression and other personal issues.

And while her relationship with Australian fans had previously been hot and cold, particularly when she switched her allegiance back to her native Serbia under the encouragement of her father, there was nothing but love for her on Rod Laver Arena yesterday.

‘‘I came back two or three years ago to Australia and obviously the crowd . . . I didn’t expect them to be on my side and to understand what happened seven years ago,’’ Dokic said.

‘‘I will regret that decision that I made. I can say that I made it under the influence of my dad, but I will regret leaving for the rest of my life. It will always be the mistake that I made.

‘‘But I think tonight was an amazing experience. It’s been the best that I’ve ever had.’’ In a match that lasted more than two hours, Dokic looked composed throughout and used her powerful ground strokes to run her Russian opponent around the court.

But she interspersed that by coming to the net on occasions to force the error from Chakvetadze and with the Russian battling fatigue in the final set, Dokic was able to hold her nerve to win.

Her efforts have earned her a match with 11th seed Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3 6-3.