Australian Open: Epic Day Five Will Long Be Remembered For Its Numbers

Anna Blinkova Australian Open
Elena Rybakina on Rod Laver Arena (photo: Tennis Australia/Hamish Blair)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 19, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

An epic Day Five on Thursday at this year’s Australian Open will be long remembered for the many remarkable numbers it produced. Among them:

15 – deciding-set matches (nine women, six men).

3 – fifth-set tiebreakers.

42 – a 42-point third-set tiebreaker, won by Anna Blinkova 22-20 over Elena Rybakina. It was the longest singles tiebreak in major history.

5 – the number of consecutive games won by Iga Swiatek in the final set to pull out a three-set victory over Danielle Collins after trailing 1-4 in the deciding set.

However, there are some dubious numbers worth noting, too:

3:40 a.m. Melbourne Time (Friday) – the time that Daniil Medvedev won his five-set match over Emil Ruusuvuori. It was the third-latest finish to a match in Grand Slam history.

Still, Thursday was an extraordinary mixture of the good and bad that is tennis.

Call Medvedev a survivor after late-night win

Looking back on the third-latest finish in a Grand Slam match – all of them at the Australian Open – World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev was at times his own worst enemy against the inspired, 53rd-ranked  Emil Ruusuvuori from Finland on Rod Laver Arena.  However, the third-seeded Moscow native clinched a five-set triumph that lasted four hours and 23 minutes, 3-6, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0, ending at 3:40 a.m. Friday to advance to the third round.

“It was tough. I think the only two matches when I went two-sets-to-love down and won, it was here, on this court,” Medvedev recalled in his on-court interview. “So that’s a good memory for sure. This one is for sure going to stay in my memory, at 3:40 in the morning.”

Medvedev, a finalist in Melbourne in 2021 and 2022, improved his AO lifetime record to 23-7 after hitting 51 winners to 63 unforced errors.

“It was not easy to start the match and in the first set I was missing too much. I was missing all over the place,” Medvedev said. “Then I [changed my racquets] and finally found one where I felt like I was playing better. Sometimes it is just something you create in your mind.

“I stayed with this racquet. I started with it at the beginning of the third set and stayed with it until the end of the match.”

Call Medvedev a survivor.

Anisimova is happy on the court, again

Amanda Anisimova of the United States has reached the fourth round of her first major in a year. On Friday, the American now ranked 442nd, who took most of last season off to nurse her mental health, overcame a stomach issue to defeat No. 100 Paula Badosa of Spain, 7-5, 6-4, in an hour and 28 minutes on John Cain Arena. Anisimova hit 40 winners and broke Badosa’s serve five times en route to the victory.

Collins is ready to retire at end of season …

American Danielle Collins, a finalist in Melbourne two years ago, squandered a 4-1 third-set lead to Iga Swiatek on Thursday and lost to the World No. 1 and top seed from Poland, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. She received a nice ovation from the crowd as she departed Rod Laver Arena likely for the last time.

Soon after, during her post-match news conference, Collins praised Swiatek. “You know, I think she’s a big hitter. Her game and her career speak for itself,” she said. “I think we all know what to expect against Iga. I had to try to counter that as much as I could, I did that well at many moments. You know, other moments it got away from me.”

Collins, 30, was asked if this loss would stay with her for a long time. She responded: “At this point, you know, I’m kind of at the end of my career and they don’t sting quite as much, to be honest. I feel like I have kind of gotten to the point where obviously they matter and, you know, my career means a lot to me, but the end of the day, you know, you either win or you lose, and that’s all there is to it.”

End of your career, Danielle?: “Yeah, this is going to be my last season, actually, competing. I don’t really know exactly when, but this will be my last season and I’m really looking forward to that.”

Currently, the St. Petersburg, Fla. resident is ranked No. 62 after reaching a career-high seventh and her lifetime win-loss record stands at 122-91, including 35-21 in majors. She’s earned nearly $7 million in prize money.

“Yeah, you know, I feel like I’ve had a pretty good career. There have certainly been ups and downs to it, and I think the travel and some of the things away from the court with scheduling and all of that, this is a really tough sport.

“I have other things that I’d kind of like to accomplish in my life outside of tennis, and would like to be able to kind of, you know, be able to have the time to be able to do that. Obviously having kids is a big priority for me, so …”

… Millman is not quite ready to retire, yet

While popular Australian John Millman did not qualify for the singles draw in his final Grand Slam before he retires, the 34-year-old from Brisbane is alive and well in doubles, where he received a wild card into the main draw.

Although Millman came close to bowing in the opening round on Thursday, he and 19-year-old South Australian teen Edward Winter saved two match points in their 6-7 (3) 6-2, 7-6 (12) win over New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell and Brazil’s Marcelo Demoliner to advance.

The victory by Millman and Winter sets up a second-round meeting with World No. 4 Matthew Ebden of Australia and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna. Millman is among 23 Australians entered in the men’s double draw.

Looking back on his career, Millman won one ATP Tour singles title, at Astana in 2020. What he lacked in titles won, was made up for through his hard work and persistence on the tennis court.

“Some of the highlights for me are actually knowing where I’ve come from to being able to play in the biggest tournaments,” Millman told the ATP Tour website. “I remember playing in Spain when I was 18 or 19 and I had to win four qualifying matches to get about 80 euros. When you think back about that journey and to get to the top end, it’s pretty special.

“For me the highlights were whenever I got to represent my country at Davis Cup and the Olympic Games. I really enjoyed that. I just hope, when it’s all said and done, I know I wasn’t necessarily the most talented player but I hope people enjoyed the journey and saw that I left it all out there. If they resonate with that and that story, then I’ve done my job.”

Millman plans to study at Queensland University of Technology and get away from tennis. However, don’t be surprised if he returns one day to tennis.

“I think I would like to step away from tennis for a bit,” Millman said. “I need to have a breather. I need to let things settle, have a break and maybe I find my way back to tennis. We’ll see.”

Around Melbourne Park

The fashionable side of tennis

Friday’s Australian Open results

Saturday’s Australian Open order of play 

For the record

The Anna Blinkova–Elena Rybakina 42-point final-set tiebreak, which was the longest tiebreak in a singles match in Grand Slam history, surpassed the previous record of 38 points, which happened on two occasions. Most recently, Lesia Tsurenko defeated Ana Bogdan 20-18 in a final-set tiebreak at Wimbledon last year. Before that, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Andy Roddick 20-18 in a first-set tiebreak at the Australian Open in 2007.

By the numbers

Five of the top 10 women’s seeds already have been banished from the year’s first Grand Slam. On Thursday, World No. 57 Anna Blinkova dispatched third seed Elena Rybakina and World No. 51 Clara Burel swept away No. 5 Jessica Pegula. Earlier, sixth seed Ons Jabeur was ousted in by 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in 54 minutes and No. 8 Maria Sakkari also was upset by No. 74 Elina Avanesyan. No. 7 Marketa Vondrousova fell in the first round to qualifier Dayana Yastremska.

“Quotable …”

“I didn’t have really expectations. Actually, more just a desire to compete well, to play better than I’ve played recently. Of course, I mean, actually I’ve played good recently, at the end of the year in Basel and all that.

“I had the belief that if my fitness level was to come back to a good level, the tennis was going to come back sooner than later. It’s not like even past years where I made quarterfinals here. I had many struggles in early rounds.

“Actually, when I look at it, it’s a positive start. Now things will get tougher and tougher as the tournament goes on.

“But I feel good with my game, and I feel like the work that we’ve done is paying off. I think the wheels are in the right direction, so I need to stay focused, stay consistent, and hopefully keep winning some matches.”

– No. 27 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, during his post-match news conference Thursday on his expectations after being pushed to five sets by Dominic Thiem in his first match, then needing four sets to beat qualifier Hugo Grenier. Auger-Aliassime will oppose No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev in Saturday’s third round.

 

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