Australian Open 2024 results: Elena Rybakina beaten by Anna Blinkova in longest tie-break in Grand Slam history
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Anna Blinkova converted her 11th match point to beat Elena Rybakina
Australian Open 2024 |
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Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-28 January |
Coverage: Commentary every day from 07:00 GMT on Tennis Breakfast on Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, with selected live text commentaries and match reports on the BBC Sport website and app |
Forty-two points, 14 combined match points, 31 draining minutes - and that was just the tie-break.
Elena Rybakina and Anna Blinkova played out an epic Australian Open second-round match on Thursday - one that was settled by the longest tie-break in Grand Slam singles history.
Russian Blinkova eventually converted her 10th match point to win the second-round match 6-4 4-6 7-6 (22-20).
"This day I will remember for the rest of my life," she said.
Rybakina missed eight match points of her own in an enthralling encounter at Melbourne Park, which lasted two hours and 46 minutes.
The Kazakh third seed - who finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka last year - is the highest women's seed to fall so far.
The previous longest women's tie-break was Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko's 4-6 6-3 7-6 (20-18) victory over Ana Bogdan in the Wimbledon third round last year. Those 38 points matched the men's record from the first set of Andy Roddick's victory against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the 2007 Australian Open. Roddick lost the tie-break but won in four sets.
"There were moments I enjoyed - and other moments it was super tough," Blinkova said on court.
"I had so many match points. I tried to be aggressive at these moments but my hands were shaking, and my legs too.
"I tried to be calm as hard as I could. Super happy to win in the end."