Third seed Elena Rybakina’s bid to reach back-to-back Australian Open finals ended in disappointment as she crashed to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (20) defeat against the unseeded Russian Anna Blinkova, featuring the longest women’s singles tie-break in grand slam history.

Rybakina, the big-hitting former Wimbledon champion,who lost to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s title clash, began the match sluggishly as her former doubles partner capitalised with an early break which proved enough for her to go on and wrap up the opening set.

The 25-year-old Blinkova built up the pressure and pounced on her opponent’s serve again in the second set to take a 2-1 lead, but the Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina responded with one of her own as the powerful duo were evenly matched after eight games.

Brisbane champion Rybakina shifted up a gear and drew level at one set apiece before the players traded breaks freely in the decider which was settled in a tie-break for the ages as the gutsy Blinkova equalled her best grand slam performance.

“This day I’ll remember for the rest of my life, on this court with this crowd, it’s the best of my life so far,” said Blinkova, shortly after she shared a hug with Rybakina at the net as the crowd gave the pair a standing ovation. “Thank you too the crowd for encouraging me, it gave me so much energy to fight until the end.

“It was super tough, I tried to stay focused on every point. I had so many match points and tried to be aggressive at these moments but my hand was shaking, and my legs too.” Having saved six match points, Blinkova walked away to huge cheers after writing “NEVER GIVE UP” on a courtside camera lens.

• Australian Open 2024
• Australian Open
• Tennis
• Australia sport
• news