The third-seeded Elena Rybakina set up the longest women’s singles tiebreak in grand slam history after falling to the unseeded Russian Anna Blinkova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (20). This defeat ended Rybakina’s chances of making it to the Australian Open final twice.
The previous year, Aryna Sabalenka defeated big-hitting Wimbledon winner Rybakina in the championship match. She had a difficult first set, but when her former doubles partner took advantage of an early break, she eventually prevailed.
After eight games, the dangerous duo was evenly matched. The 25-year-old Blinkova upped her game and attacked her rival’s serve once more in the second set to grab a 2-1 advantage. Rybakina, a Kazakh player who was born in Russia, responded with one of her own.
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Brisbane winner Rybakina changed strategy and knotted the match at one set apiece before the players freely traded breaks in the pivotal match, which ended in a dramatic tie-break in which the brave Blinkova matched her finest grand slam performance.
“It’s the best day of my life so far, on this court with this crowd,” Blinkova said, drawing a standing ovation from the audience after giving Rybakina a hug at the net. “I would like to thank the audience for their encouragement, which allowed me to complete.
“I tried to stay focused on every point, but it was really difficult.” Even though I was attempting to be aggressive in these zones because I had a lot of match points available, the scenario was causing my hands and legs to shake. Amidst wild cheers for saving six match points, Blinkova scrawled “NEVER GIVE UP” on the lens of a courtside camera as she was being wheeled off the court. Something occurred as they were removing her from the court.
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