Russian Blinkova defeated world number three Rybakina at the Australian Open

The fifth day of the Australian Open, which continues in Melbourne, was marked by a sensational victory by Russian Anna Blinkova over the third racket of the world and last year’s finalist Elena Rybakina in the longest tiebreaker in the history of Grand Slam tournaments. And Daniil Medvedev, late at night, saved the match for the third time in his career, losing 0:2 in sets, defeating Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in 4 hours and 23 minutes.

The match between Anna Blinkova and Elena Rybakina became the clearest illustration of the fragility of forecasts that are usually made on the basis of all kinds of statistical indicators. Almost everything seemed to speak in favor of the representative of Kazakhstan: last year’s reaching the final of the Australian Open, on the way to which she was very good, and the recent title won at the tournament in Brisbane, where Rybakina lost only three games to the second racket of the world Arina in the decisive match Sabalenka, and a streak of twelve straight victories over opponents outside the top 50, dating back to May last year at a tournament in Rome, and a dismal start to the season for Blinkova, who, in turn, lost at recent competitions in Auckland and Hobart at the start to opponents who were outside the first hundred.

The balance of personal meetings, however, was in favor of the Russian, who beat Rybakina seven years ago at a small tournament with a prize fund of $100 thousand in St. Petersburg. But then the loser could only dream of a future victory at Wimbledon in 2022 and a place in the world elite. Therefore, no one expected a surprise in this case. It seemed that Rybakina, who at the start quite confidently dealt with a much more titled tennis player – former world number one Czech Karolina Pliskova, would advance further without any problems.

However, Blinkova had a special opinion on this matter. Her good first serve and aggressiveness on the back line unexpectedly turned out to be too strong trump cards for her physically more powerful opponent.

In fact, in the career of the 25-year-old tennis player from the Moscow region, who has been mainly training in France for a long time, she has already had one resounding success at the Grand Slam tournaments – at last year’s Roland Garros, Blinkova in a very stubborn fight stopped the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, adored by the Parisian public. The Russian woman, of course, knows a lot and has a fighting character, but her Achilles heel is stability. Therefore, after Rybakina, having lost the first set, restored the balance in the games, it seemed that the most difficult thing for her was left behind.

In fact, the fun was just beginning. In the third set, Blinkova led 4:2, allowed her opponent to catch up with her, after which she twice unsuccessfully served for the match in the tenth and twelfth games, missing two match points with the score 6:5. In the end, it came to a super tiebreak, which at the Australian Open is played to ten points in the deciding set. And it, ending in favor of Blinkova – 22:20, became the longest tiebreaker in the history of Grand Slam singles tournaments. Men had previously played 38 points in tiebreakers at majors three times, and for women the previous record was set last year at Wimbledon, where Ukrainian Lesya Tsurenko beat Romanian Ana Bogdan – 20:18.

In this case, during the tiebreaker, Blinkova missed five match points, and Rybakina missed six, and one of them, with the score 18:17, may well lay claim to the title of the most dramatic play of the entire tournament. Running from one corner to another and with great difficulty fending off almost hopeless balls, Blinkova somehow miraculously launched a counterattack, putting Rybakina in a losing position.

The Russian grabbed the last point after a mistake by her opponent, who tried to play as aggressively as possible at the net and sent the ball into a small out.

Having lost the tiebreaker in 31 minutes, Rybakina immediately left Rod Laver’s court, and the audience gave Blinkova a standing ovation, calling it the best day of her life.

Whether she will have time to recover after such a psychologically exhausting marathon for the next game against the Italian Jasmine Paolini is, of course, a big question, although in the quarter of the bracket where Rybakina previously was, there is now no clear favorite. The fact is that earlier on Thursday, the fifth racket of the world, American Jessica Pegula, dropped out of the fight, losing to Frenchwoman Clara Burel. This means that Blinkova, another Russian Anna Kalinskaya, who beat the Dutchwoman Arancha Rus, and several other tennis players who, as a rule, do not claim such achievements, can now count on reaching the semifinals.

The last thing on the program of the fifth day was the meeting between Daniil Medvedev and the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori. Her first set began at approximately 11:15 p.m. Melbourne time, and at 3 a.m., when the Russian’s opponent temporarily went into the tribune room before the start of the final game, nothing was still clear. At first, the situation was very bad for Medvedev. The first two games remained with Ruusuvuori, and although the Russian tried to change the course of the fight, there were no options for a real turning point. But gradually Ruusuvuori began to get tired, and Medvedev managed to come back from a 0:2 score in games for the third time in his career. The key was the fourth set tie-break, in which Medvedev looked head and shoulders above. After this, Ruusuvuori, who required medical attention due to a shoulder injury, visibly wilted. As a result – 3:6, 6:7 (1:7), 6:4, 7:6 (7:1), 6:0 in 4 hours 23 minutes.

In the third round, Medvedev will meet Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, whom he has beaten six times in a row, including in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Australian Open, when he managed to erase a two-set deficit.

Evgeniy Fedyakov