Mildura VIC, Australia, 12 March 2017 | David Packman

Victorian Dayne Kelly is now a back-to-back champion after defending his Mildura Grand International title in somewhat dramatic fashion against Bradley Mousley on Sunday.

“It feels amazing, words can’t really describe it right now,” Kelly, 26, said of his eighth ITF Futures title.

The first set belonged to Mousley, the South Australian fourth seed, but after levelling at one set apiece, Kelly gained some pivotal momentum, eventually reaching match point when serving at 5-2 in the final set before falling heavily on his knee.

Mousley took advantage of the hampered Kelly and pushed the encounter to a deciding tiebreaker, but Kelly found a way to take a commanding 5-1 lead before holding on to claim a memorable victory, 4-6 6-4 7-6(4).

“It was just a few crucial points here and there, that’s about it really,” the second seed said. “It was good to get the job done finally.”

As for the injured knee, Kelly said it was tough to keep a lid on it.

“I’m not too sure how it’s going to pull up in the next few days so we’ll have to keep an eye on it.”

Live scores of all Australian Pro Tour events are available through www.tennis.com.au/protour/scores and for a live stream of selected events visit www.tennis.com.au/protour.