'Most mental match I've ever seen': Epic tie-breaker smashes grand ...

When it was finally over, Anna Blinkova fell to her knees and seemed to almost start to cry. And fair enough - she had just won arguably the match of the tournament so far, culminating in the longest tie-breaker in women’s grand slam singles history.

Not only that, she had knocked out world No. 3 Elena Rybakina, last year’s Australian Open runner-up and a one-time Wimbledon champion, to notch up the biggest win of her career and advance to the third round of a major for the third time.

It is Blinkova’s first time into round three at Melbourne Park, and later, the world No.57 said her determination to remain in Melbourne helped her win. “One of my motivations was to stay here,” she said. “Before going on the court I was telling myself: I will fight to stay here longer at the Australian Open in the best atmosphere in the world.”

But to do that, she had to emerge victorious from a 42-point, 31-minute tie-breaker – longer than many sets of tennis – that instantly entered the record books. Along the way, the Russian Blinkova saved six match points against her and had nine opportunities of her own before she converted on the 10th attempt to win in two hours and 46 minutes.

“That was the most mental match I think I’ve ever seen in my life. I loved it,” commentator Laura Robson said afterwards.

The epic tie-breaker initially looked as though it might be one-sided, with Blinkova rushing to a 4-1 lead. Rybakina levelled it, but Blinkova got her first taste of victory with two match points at 7-9, neither of which she could convert.

From there, it was a tug of war. Serving for it again at 11-10, Blinkova lost to a ripper forehand down the line from Rybakina to keep herself alive. The Kazakhstani champion soon set up her own match point on serve, but succumbed to a Blinkova forehand winner.

By the time Rybakina was serving for the match at 18-17, everyone in Rod Laver Arena was aware they were witnessing something special. She belted her opponent from side to side, but Blinkova came up with some extraordinary defensive shots to keep herself in the point. Drawn towards the net, Blinkova hit the necessary passing shot; Rybakina made contact but did not quite get enough racquet on it. The crowd went berserk, and Blinkova raised her fist in the air as she headed to yet another change of ends.