In an eventful Day 5 at the Australian Open 2024, the world no.3 and last edition's runner-up Elen Rybakina suffered a shocking second round exit on Thursday, January 18. Anna Blinkova knocked out Rybakina after a 22-20 tiebreaker, the biggest in singles events at Grand Slam tournaments.
Rybakina claimed the first set by 4-6 and also registered nine aces to Blinkova's four. But the Russian star made a strong comeback to take the second set by 6-4 and then produced an acrobatic display in the thrilling third set. The duo played out for 42 points to witness the longest tiebreaker in the history of the tournament.
In men's singles, world no.3 Daniil Medvedev needed five sets to overcome a challenge from unseeded Finnish tennis player Emil Ruusuvuori. The Russian star, who reached the final of the Australian Open in 2021 and 2022, produced a brilliant comeback to register a 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-7, 0-6 win at Melbourne Park. Medvedev next faces his biggest challenge against Canadian star Felix Auger Aliassime in the third round.
The world no.6 Alexander Zverev and Norwegian Casper Rudd also witnessed five-set encounters to avoid an early exit. Zverev defeated unseeded Lukas Klein 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 while Rudd ended crowd favourite Max Purcell's campaign with a 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7.
India's top-ranked Sumit Nagal witnessed a shock defeat against China's Juncheng Shang, ranked 140th, by 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 4-6 in the second round. It came as a big upset for the player who defeated the world no.31 Alexander Bublik with a remarkable performance in the first round.
In the women's singles, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka defeated Danish youngster Clara Tauson 4-6, 6-3, 2-6 to progress to the next round where she will face the former French Open champion and the current world no.11 Jelena Ostapenko.
The US Open 2021 Emma Raducanu also crashed out of the tournament with a 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 defeat to Wang Yafan. The world no.5 Jessica Pegula also witnessed a shock defeat against French youngster Carla Burel in a straight set loss of 6-4, 6-2.
