2024 Australian Open, Anna Blinkova stuns Elena Rybakina: Key stats
What's the story
World number 57 Anna Blinkova stunned third seed Elena Rybakina in the second round of the 2024 Australian Open in Melbourne.
She beat last year's runner-up 6-4, 4-6, 7-6[20] to stage what so far is the upset of the tournament.
Blinkova saved six match points in the longest women's singles match-tiebreak in Grand Slam history.
Here are the key stats.
Slams
Maiden third-round appearance at AO for Blinkova
Rybakina has suffered her third second-round exit in Melbourne (also in 2022 and 2021 respectively). In 2020, she was ousted in the third round.
Rybakina owns a 38-16 win-loss record at Grand Slams, including 11-5 at AO.
Meanwhile, Blinkova has reached the AO third round for the first time ever. For the fourth time, she has booked a 3rd-round place across Grand Slams.
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A look at the match stats
Rybakina doled out nine aces compared to Blinkova's four. Notably, Blinkova went on to commit six double faults to Rybakina's nil. Blinkova had a 73% win on the first serve and just 35% on the second. She converted 5/6 break points.
Records
Key records scripted in the match
As per Opta, Blinkova is the first player to defeat the women's singles previous runner-up in the second round at the AO since Patty Schnyder in 2000 against Amelie Mauresmo.
Rybakina and Blinkova were involved in the longest ever women's singles tie-break at a Grand Slam event (42 points).
This broke the 38-point tiebreak played by Lesia Tsurenko and Ana Bogdan at 2023 Wimbledon.
Game
Blinkova seals a 2-hour and 46-minute thriller
The match headed to a 10-point tiebreak before Rybakina saved seven more match points. She found herself within a point of the win six times but failed to get past the line.
The match then headed to a 20-point tiebreak as Blinkova went on to clinch a tricky 12-point rally .
Blinkova converted her final match point to seal the 2-hour and 46-minute thriller.
Singles
Key results in women's singles
19th seed Elina Svitolina tamed Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-3.
12th seed Qinwen Zheng overcame Katie Boulter 6-3, 6-3.
26th seed Jasmine Paolini progressed after beating Tatjana Maria 6-2, 6-3.
Early on, world number one Iga Swiatek took down Danielle Collins in three sets.
Swiatek won the contest 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Swiatek, who has won four Grand Slams, raced to a 70-15 win-loss record.
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Stunning losses for Pegula and Kasatkina
Fifth seed Jessica Pegula was stunned by Clara Burel in a 4-6, 2-6 affair. Before this, Pegula had reached three successive quarter-finals at the Australian Open. Meanwhile, 14th seed Daria Kasatkina was beaten by Sloane Stephens 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.