'Courage,' Anna Blinkova spills the beans on her groundbreaking victory against top seed Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open after a nerve-wrecking tie-breaker

The second round of the women’s singles witnessed the longest tiebreaker in the history of a Grand Slam event. While both players held their end of the fort by capturing the first and second set respectively, the third set of the duo’s encounter saw a staggering 42 tie-breaker points rallied between Blinkova and Rybakina.

After a much hard-hitting contest, Anna Blinkova ended the Kazakhstani’s campaign at the season’s first Grand Slam and later in a post-match interview addressed what motivated her to register the groundbreaking victory over the latter. She said:

If I have to say one word, I would say 'courage'. It took me a lot of courage. I was going for it. I was trying to find the balance between being aggressive and being solid, not rushing, but trying to make her play one more shot, one more shot. I think in the second set I became a little bit more defensive so she could step forward, and she could make me run, and she was in aggressive. Anna Blinkova said

She went on to add:

In the third set, I was telling myself to be more aggressive, to go more for it, to hit harder, to make her move more. It took me courage. It took me some certain calmness to stay in the present moment and to play point by point no matter what happens in the point, the point that I lost.

Anna Blinkova added

It is worth noting that the duo broke the longstanding record of a 38-point tiebreaker played between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Roddick which was scripted 17 years ago at the 2007 Australian Open.

Anna Blinkova expresses delight after downing Elena Rybakina in a historic tiebreaker at the 2024 Australian Open

While talking in an on-court interview, Russian tennis professional Anna Blinkova termed her victory over Elena Rybakina as the best day of her life. She further expressed her delight after thwarting Kazakhstani’s dream run at the 2024 Australian Open.

Before squaring off against the former World No. 3 at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday, January 18 the 25-year-old triumphed over Cristina Bucsa in the opening round of the hardcourt event.

The Russian will next lock horns with Jasmine Paolini for a place in the fourth round of the Melbourne slam on Saturday, January 20.