Third seed Elena Rybakina dumped out of Australian Open by Anna Blinkova

MELBOURNE – Third seed Elena Rybakina’s bid to reach back-to-back Australian Open finals ended in disappointment on Jan 18, as she crashed to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20) second-round defeat by unseeded Russian Anna Blinkova after a wild deciding tiebreak.

At 42 points, it is the longest tiebreak in a singles match in Grand Slam history.

The big-hitting former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who lost to Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka in the 2023 title clash, began the match sluggishly as her ex-doubles partner capitalised with an early break, which proved enough for her to go on and wrap up the opening set.

Blinkova built up the pressure and pounced on her opponent’s serve again in the second set to take a 2-1 lead, but Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina responded with one of her own as the duo were evenly matched after eight games.

Rybakina then shifted up a gear and drew level at one set apiece before the players traded breaks freely in the decider, which was settled in a tiebreak for the ages as Blinkova equalled her best Grand Slam performance.

“Thank you so much to the crowd for encouraging me, it gave me so much energy to fight till the end,” said Blinkova.

“It was super tough. I had so many match points and I tried to be aggressive, but my hands were shaking and my legs too. I tried to be calm as hard as I could, and I’m super happy to win.

“This day I will remember for the rest of my life.”

There was another upset as Britain’s Emma Raducanu was defeated 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 by Wang Yafan of China.

Just two days after beating American Shelby Rogers in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam match following an eight-month absence due to injuries, she failed to progress further in Melbourne.

The former US Open champion called for a medical timeout when she was 2-0 down in the deciding set and had her blood pressure checked. She seemed to be suffering from illness and could not recover from then on.

In other matches, Iga Swiatek admitted she was mentally “at the airport” before staging an astonishing comeback against American Danielle Collins to stay alive at the Australian Open.

The Polish world No. 1 was up a set and a break before faltering badly and slipping to a 4-1 deficit in the final set.

But just as she appeared to be heading home, she reeled off five straight games to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and extend her winning run to 18 matches.

“Oh my god, I was at the airport already,” joked the four-time Slam champion, who has never won the Australian Open.

“I wanted to fight until the end. I knew she played perfectly but it would be hard for anybody to keep that level, so I wanted to be ready if the mistakes would come from the other side.

“It wasn’t easy. I had the momentum going and then she started playing suddenly two times faster and I had no idea how to react. I came back, and I thought the only thing I could focus on was myself.”

In the men’s draw, sixth seed Alexander Zverev conceded he was also fortunate to prevail 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (10-7) over Slovakian world No. 163 Lukas Klein, whose iron grip on their 4½-hour contest had the German plotting his journey back to Monte Carlo.

“I was thinking there’s a Qantas flight at 11pm tonight straight to Dubai and then one to home,” he said.

Norway’s Casper Ruud, the 11th seed, was forced to battle hard for his place in the third round as well, as he was taken to a fifth-set tiebreak by Australian Max Purcell before winning 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7).

Spanish world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz matched his best Melbourne result by reaching the last 32 with a 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win against Italy’s unseeded Lorenzo Sonego.

Eighth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, however, crashed out with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 loss to Frenchman Arthur Cazaux.

REUTERS, AFP