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regular-article-logo Saturday, 12 October 2024

Australian Open 2024: Elena Rybakina blinks in wild tie-break, longest ever in a women’s grand slam event

32-minute marathon for Blinkova’s victory

AP/PTI Melbourne Published 19.01.24, 10:22 AM
Unseeded Anna Blinkova falls to the court in joy following her second-round win over third seed Elena Rybakina after            a record-breaking tie-break that lasted 32 minutes at the Australian Open on Thursday. (Getty Images)

Unseeded Anna Blinkova falls to the court in joy following her second-round win over third seed Elena Rybakina after a record-breaking tie-break that lasted 32 minutes at the Australian Open on Thursday. (Getty Images)

Her hand and her legs were shaking, she’d missed nine match points but also saved six, and Anna Blinkova was 41 points into a wild tie-breaker that was the longest ever in a women’s grand slam event.

Elena Rybakina, last year’s Australian Open runner-up, was just as anxious on the other side of the net.

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When Blinkova lunged to retrieve a backhand, aiming just to keep the rally alive, and Rybakina’s next backhand sailed wide, it finished off a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20) second-round victory on Thursday that she’ll never forget.

“It took me courage,” 25-year-old Blinkova said. “It took me some certain calmness to stay in the present and to play point by point.”

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who was runner-up here last year to Aryna Sabalenka, saved two match points in a third set that contained six service breaks.

Blinkova twice served for the match but couldn’t finish off, and a double fault in the 12th game sent it to a 10-point tie-breaker. Once there, 13 minutes after her first match point, Blinkova had two more points at 9-7 but again Rybakina saved them, and so it went on.

Blinkova, smiling, later described it as the “endless tie-breaker”. It went on for 32 minutes until Rybakina’s backhand error ended it.

In terms of points — 42 — it was the longest tie-breaker ever in any grand slam singles match, as tweeted by the International Tennis Federation.

“It was super tough. I had so many match points,” said Blinkova, who is ranked 57th and had 13 first-round exits in her previous 20 majors. “I tried to be aggressive but my hand was shaking. And my legs, too! I tried to be calm, as much as I could.”

It was one that Rybakina will dwell on, too. She knew she wasted chances.

But “I’m really proud that I could fight till the end”, the Kazakh said. “I mean, you can’t always play perfect. And of course, I could have lost it even earlier.”

The longest women’s tie-break before Thursday was in last year’s Wimbledon when Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko won 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (20-18) over Ana Bogdan in the third round. That matched the men’s record from the Australian Open first set during Andy Roddick’s win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2007.

“This day I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Blinkova said as the crowd gave the players a standing ovation. “...especially on this court with this crowd, I will never forget it, it’s the best day of my life so far.”

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