Bianca Andreescu sympathises with Thanasi Kokkinakis after Aussie suffers comeback loss similar to hers at Australian Open
Bianca Andreescu has acknowledged the brutal nature of sports after Thanasi Kokkinakis lost a five-set humdinger in the Australian Open second round to Andy Murray on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, Andreescu was on the wrong end of a three-set loss to Cristina Bucsa.
In what was an instant classic at Margaret Court Arena, it was Kokkinakis who started strong against Murray, taking a commanding two-set lead. The finish line appeared to be in sight for the Australian when he led by a break in the third.
However, Murray extended the contest by taking the set on a tiebreak before forcing a decider, which he served out 7-5. The match finished at 4:05 am local time, having gone on for five hours and 45 minutes, the second-longest and second-latest finish in Australian Open history respectively.
Only the Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal 2012 final (5 hours, 53 minutes) went longer than the Murray-Kokkinakis match. Lleyton Hewitt-Marcos Baghdatis' third-round clash in 2008 finished at 4:33 am.
Kokkinakis was understandably gutted to come out second-best in a match he dominated for large swathes, tweeting:
"This f***ing sport man .... "
That found resonance with Andreescu, who had gone down 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 to Bucsa. She tweeted:
"I feel u :("
I feel u :( twitter.com/tkokkinakis/st…
Murray will now face Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday as he seeks to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time since Wimbledon 2017. Thanasi Kokkinakis, meanwhile, can only wonder what could have been.
Andy Murray's incredible defense visibly frustrates Thanasi Kokkinakis
For two-and-a-half sets, there seemed to be only one winner on Margaret Court Arena, as Kokkinakis served for a two-set and 3-0 lead on the serve.
However, Murray's incredible defense in the 40-Ad point on Kokkinakis' serve was one for the highlight reels. The Australian did everything he could to win the point, pushing his opponent out wide on either flank. Kokkinakis then squandered four overheads before a Murray lob sent him scurrying back to the baseline.
The Australian netted a tame forehand to the net to end the incredible rally. He promptly smacked his racquet onto the court in disgust as Murray soaked in the applause before going on to win the match.
Have you ever seen anything like that?
@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2023 https://t.co/PSIXFMIFcl
Earlier, Murray had squandered a two-set lead against Matteo Berrettini in the first round before saving a match point to down the 13th seed. That was the three-time Grand Slam winner's first top-20 win at a Major in more than five years.
Thanasi Kokkinakis, meanwhile, has now failed to cross the second-round hurdle at the Australian Open in seven attempts.