Thanasi Kokkinakis has roared to the biggest win of his career in an epic, historic five-set victory over former champion Stan Wawrinka at the French Open.
Kokkinakis had waited eight long, injury-plagued years to reach the third round of another grand slam after reaching the last 32 at Roland Garros as a teenager and emotionally tumbling into the red clay when he finally repeated the dose with his monumental effort at Wednesday .
On a windy Court Simonne Mathieu, faced with a packed house all cheering for their Swiss favourite, Kokkinakis finally broke the stubborn champion of 2015 to win 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6- 3 to become the first Australian in the third round this year.
The Adelaide man has come a long way this year in eradicating some embarrassing near misses, led by his nearly six-hour loss to Andy Murray at the Australian Open.
He even had to endure Wawrinka’s pain by saving four match points from 40-0 in the final game before sealing the win on serve.
Kokkinakis’ remarkable victory saw him reach the third round of a grand slam tournament for the first time in eight years
He kept his nerve as Wawrinka saved four match points in the final game before taking the most impressive win of his career.
‘What a match! I knew Stan is getting older, but for the first set and a half he played the best tennis he could. I was nowhere, I was just trying to hold on,” Kokkinakis told the crowd.
“I lost a game, that game against Murray [at this year’s Australian Open]I didn’t want to do it against another legend.
“At 40-0 I was like ‘oh no’, you can imagine what comes to mind. He just never left – but I just trusted myself and I’m so happy.”
Nick Kyrgios built the match up as a proper “popcorn match” in a tweet on Tuesday – and he wasn’t wrong as a breathtaking, four-hour, 38-minute match unfolded.
Kyrgios wrote, “This is what we live for…… Stan doesn’t want to lose this one,” referring to his infamous sleigh against the Swiss in Montreal in 2015, when he started a feud by telling him, “Kokkinakis got you girlfriend screwed. Sorry to tell you that, mate.’
Wawrinka blew the Aussie off the field in the first set and Kokkinakis said he ‘never left’ during the marathon clash
Kokkinakis’ best friend Nick Kyrgios (pictured together after their men’s doubles win at the 2022 Australian Open) rekindled his feud with Wawrinka prior to the match
Kokkinakis’ stunning victory was the perfect boost to the Aussie challenge after Storm Hunter’s chance for a same-field breakthrough over Ukraine comeback star Elina Svitolina was blown to a dazzling start, 2-6 6-3 6- 1 .
And Hunter’s fellow Queenslander Jason Kubler also took off in the second round, beaten by reckless Italian Fabio Fognini 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
It looked like Kokkinakis would also find 38-year-old Wawrinka too hot to take on the battle between two warriors who find new life in their careers after being put through the mill of injuries.
Wawrinka, who had secured a thrilling five-set win in his opener against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, stepped into a one-set lead, 4-2, but Kokkinakis’ increased aggression and weight of the shot allowed him to take control. to take.
Still, the relentless Wawrinka took the fourth stanza to a tie-break before giving up to Kokkinakis who played a shocker and five consecutive unforced errors.
The bad tennis boy tweeted ‘Stan doesn’t want to lose this one’ in reference to his infamous sleigh against the Swiss in 2015
Kokkinakis rallied again, taking away the first four games in the decider and, although the Swiss rallied with a break and then saved his set points at death, not even an undue intervention from the umpire, giving the Aussie a time violation on match point, could stop him.
Kokkinakis then faces 11th seed Karen Khachanov in the third round for an even tougher performance.
Previously, Hunter had had a brief upgrade from Storm to ‘Hurricane’ before her storm of winners dwindled and her chance for her biggest win against former world No. 3 Svitolina was simply blown away.
“I certainly didn’t run out,” said a proud Hunter, who had completely dominated her illustrious opponent early on with a tremendous forehand that netted 11 first stanza winners.
On court 6, world No. 69 Kubler, the last Aussie man to stand at Roland Garros last year, found spry 36-year-old Fognini, who has dropped to 130 in the rankings, on one of his more focused days as the Italian gave him a bit of a lesson on clay.