At the Australian Open, a tiebreaker for the ages
The upset-heavy opening rounds of the Australian Open women’s tournament continued in excruciatingly drawn-out fashion early Thursday morning, when world No. 57 Anna Blinkova stunned third-seeded Elena Rybakina after a third-set tiebreaker that lasted 30 minutes and featured 42 points, the most in women’s Grand Slam history. It also was the longest in Australian Open history, women or men.
And after her 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20) victory, Blinkova seemed more relieved than anything else. She had 10 match points and fought off six such chances from Rybakina, the runner-up at last year’s tournament.
“It was super tough. I had so many match points,” Blinkova said. “And I tried to be aggressive, but my hand was shaking. And my legs, too!
“I tried to be calm, as much as I could. Super happy in the end.”
One of Blinkova’s match-saving points during the tiebreaker came after she chased down ball after ball along the baseline until she came to the net and forced Rybakina - her former doubles partner - to blink.
In terms of Grand Slam history, the 42 tiebreaker points surpassed the 38-point tiebreaker between Lesia Tsurenko and Ana Bogdan at Wimbledon last year.
Five of the top 10 women’s seeds already have exited the year’s first Grand Slam. Earlier Thursday, world No. 51 Clara Burel swept away No. 5 Jessica Pegula, 6-4, 6-2. Sixth-seeded Ons Jabeur (ousted in 54 minutes by 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva) and No. 8 Maria Sakkari (swept by world No. 74 Elina Avanesyan) also departed in the second round. No. 7 Markéta Vondroušová fell in the first round to qualifier Dayana Yastremska.
Top-seeded Iga Świątek nearly joined the parade out of Melbourne in the second round. She was down 4-1 in the third set to 2022 runner-up Danielle Collins before pulling out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory in a match that featured a 25-minute rain delay and lasted 3 hours 14 minutes.
“Honestly, I was on the airport already,” Świątek joked after the match. “But I wanted to fight to the end. I’m really proud of myself.”
Of the top 10 in the WTA rankings, only Świątek, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 4 Coco Gauff and No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko remain standing (ninth-ranked Karolína Muchová isn’t playing because of a wrist injury).
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