Australian Open: Blinkova Refuses To Blink, Ousts Rybakina

Anna Blinkova plays Elena Rybakina on RLA at AO2024
Anna Blinkova vs. Elena Rybakina, Rod Laver Arena (photo: Tennis Australia/Hamish Blair)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 18, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Anna Blinkova saved six match points against No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina and toppled last year’s Australian Open finalist after winning the longest tiebreak in a singles match in Grand Slam history Thursday evening.

When it ended, with the 57th-ranked Russian victorious by a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (20) scoreline, at 42 points, the final-set tiebreak — won 22-20 by Blinkova — was truly one for the record books. The tiebreak, alone, took up 31 minutes of the 93-minute final set and the total match time of two hours and 46 minutes. By comparison, the first set of this most entertaining and riveting contest lasted only 35 minutes.

By any measure, Blinkova had engineered the biggest upset of the first week of the year’s first major.

Blinkova, 25, who was unable to close out the match on her serve at 6-5 in the third set, converted her 10th match point to emerge victorious against the 2022 Wimbledon champ from Kazakhstan. Looking back, she overcame 48 unforced errors to hit 28 winners. By comparison, Rybakina hit 44 winners, including nine aces, but accumulated 46 unforced errors. She was ahead on total points, 121-115, but it wasn’t enough to escape with a victory on Rod Laver Arena.

“I had so many match points,” Blinkova told Laura Robson in her on-court interview as the crowd laughed along with her on this cool Melbourne summer night. “I tried to be aggressive in these moments, but my hands were shaking. My legs, too!

“This day I will remember for the rest of my life. Especially on this court, with this crowd. I will never forget it. It’s the best day of my life so far.”

The win was Blinkova’s career best by ranking and it represented her second Top Five triumph in the last year, following her three-set win over Caroline Garcia at the 2023 French Open.

Through it all, Blinkova contained her emotions running through her head incredibly well. After all she was facing a very good player in Rybakina, who had already won a title this year in Brisbane earlier this month.

“Before the match, I was telling myself that I’m going there to enjoy,” Blinkova explained in her post-match news-conference. “It was my dream to play on the Rod Laver Arena. I was preparing myself to only have positive emotions on the court no matter how the match goes. I was telling myself that I only had to give my best until the very last moment and enjoy every single moment of it.

“Of course, on the match it was difficult to always stay positive. I had a lot of great moments, but I also had many frustrating moments, for example, all the match points that I couldn’t convert.

“I was doing a lot of mental work, a lot of self-talk to just stay positive and telling myself that I still can win the match until the very end.

“I was trying to have a plan for every point until the very, very end. This is what helps me to win.”

Just ask Cazaux, tennis is a show!

“It’s a show. The tennis is a show,” said Arthur Cazaux, the young and dashing 21-year-old French wild card, in his on-court interview shortly after he crushed the hopes of World No. 8 Holger Rune of Denmark, 7-6 (4) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in three hours and 22 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

The 122nd-ranked Cazaux, who denied Rune from a 100th career tour-level win, won for just the third time on the ATP Tour. The second came earlier in the week when the Frenchman outlasted Laslo Djere of Serbia in five sets.

On Thursday, Cazaux beat Rune through his imaginative all-court play, athleticism and showmanship. He hit 18 aces, struck 51 winners, won 82 percent of his first-serve points and watched as Rune accumulated 40 unforced errors.

Turning to the address the crowd, Cazaux said: “I gave all I have in me, and I hope you enjoyed the show. We have the best crowd in France, but the Aussie crowd is crazy.”

Alcaraz equals best Australian Open result

No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who was playing in his 200th career tour-level match, was extended to four sets by an inspired Lorenzo Sonego of Italy. However, the 20-year-old Spaniard prevailed over the 46th-ranked Sonego, 6-4 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (3), in a nearly-three-and-a-half-hour second-round match on Rod Laver Arena. The victory, in his third Australian Open appearance, improved the World No. 2 Alcaraz’s lifetime win-loss record to 157-43.

“I’m really happy with my performance today. I think both of us played such a great level, high intensity,” Alcaraz said. “Even if I lost the second set, I think I played a good game. We put on a show, both of us, making good points and some hot shots as well. It was a great match.”

Alcaraz, who reached the semifinals or better at all of the other Grand Slam tournaments, will play 140th-ranked wild card Shang Juncheng of China in the third round.

Bopanna reaches 500th career tour-level win at Australian Open

India’s Rohan Bopanna achieved his 500th career tour-level victory alongside his second-seeded partner, Matthew Ebden of Australia, on Thursday. Bopanna and Ebden defeated Australian pair James Duckworth and Marc Polmans, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (2), to advance to the second round. During their two-hour and nine-minute win, they combined to hit 39 winners, including eight aces.

The 43-year-old Bopanna, a 24-time tour-level titlist, is in pursuit of his first Grand Slam title. He is competing at a joint-career-high No. 3 ranking.

Around Melbourne Park

Thursday’s Australian Open results

Friday’s Australian Open order of play 

By the numbers

Another record-setting crowd descended upon Melbourne Park on Thursday. Despite cooler temperatures and rain, which held up play on the outer courts for a couple of hours, 54,400 were on hand for the day session and 36,833 came out for the night session. The grand total of 91,233 broke the 2023 record for First Thursday Day/Night of 81,294.

“Quotable”

“He came out firing and basically took the racquet out of my hand for the first hour and a half. Yeah, I was really flat. Yeah, I was just kind of complaining to myself about little things. Wasn’t moving. Wasn’t playing clear. I wasn’t thinking clearly.

“I just managed to rise the energy a little bit. He dropped slightly. I think when the first rain delay came, I just felt a little bit more calmer coming out to court. I got a chance to chat with my coach and change the game plan a little bit, to play a little bit more to the backhand side.

“But, yeah, I was really pleased more mentally how I managed to switch it around. I was not kind of feeling good on the court. Yeah, it was not great, but I managed to finish the match.”

— No. 19 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, during his post-match news conference after rallying from two sets down to defeat 133rd-ranked qualifier Giulio Zeppieri of Italy, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, in three hours and 35 minutes, describing what turned things around for him.

 

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