Thanasi Kokkinakis has pulled another of his epic five-set comeback wins out of the fire, recovering from four match points down to knock out 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and transform a miserable, rainy day at Wimbledon for Australia.
After the fancied Jordan Thompson got knocked out tamely and Aleksandar Vukic felt the brilliance of champion Carlos Alcaraz in second-round defeats on Wednesday, Kokkinakis completed his two-day, first-round contest against one-time Canadian wonder boy Auger-Aliassime with a 4-6 5-7 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 6-4 triumph.
In doing so Kokkinakis helped create an extraordinary piece of Wimbledon history.
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He is the eighth man to come back from two sets to love in the first round at Wimbledon, the most ever in the Open Era.
It followed two similar epic five-set triumphs for Adelaide’s marathon man at the recent French Open, including a comeback from two sets down against Italian Giulio Zeppieri, and meant he’s now gone the distance in five of his six grand slam matches this year.
After the match, Kokkinakis was asked about playing the five-setters.
“I’d rather not,” he said with a smile on court, to much laughter.
“It doesn’t help me going deeper into the tournament, that’s for sure. Thankfully, it is best-of-five, otherwise I wouldn’t have won many matches this year. The beauty of five sets is it’s a rollercoaster, with lots of momentum swings. You just have to keep playing and see what happens.”
On a damp Tuesday night, the world No.93 had been on the brink of defeat in straight sets with the 17th-ranked Auger-Aliassime having held four match points in the tie-break for a straight-sets win.
But Kokkinakis edged the breaker, and after the match was postponed for the day at the start of the fourth, the Australian returned to take his chances on Wednesday on an outside court made slippery by the constant drizzle which twice further held up the match.
After the win, the Wimbledon social account shared a picture of the Aussie with the caption: “Mood when you come back from two sets down, save four match points and win … Thanasi Kokkinakis we think you’ve earned a rest.”
And Kokkinakis reacted with a ‘triumph’ emoji, as fans applauded his effort.
“Incredible performance. Amazing,” one fan said.
While another asked: “Is he the one with the most five setters? I feel like every slam he has only five setters.”
Another fan called him “the new Andy Murray”.
“Exactly,” said another, agreeing to the Murray call.
Earlier, recent Queen’s Club star Thompson just couldn’t cope with the excellence of American Brandon Nakashima, succumbing in three one-sided sets 6-3 6-2 6-2.
Fellow Sydneysider Vukic then followed up under the roof of No.1 Court, briefly offering the holder Alcaraz a scare, as he served for the first set on his showcourt debut.
However, the 21-year-old moved into an unstoppable higher gear to triumph 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-2.
The 30-year-old stalwart Thompson, in the middle of a breakthrough season in which he lifted his first ATP title, simply couldn’t back up his epic first-round comeback victory over five sets against Russian Pavel Kotov.
Thompson, who’s no stranger to five-set arm wrestles like Kokkinakis, this time couldn’t even lay a glove on the man he fought back from two sets against to beat in last year’s first round.
Nakashima was dominant in every department as world No.40 Thompson, usually such a tough figure to down on his favourite grass courts and a player in such form that he only narrowly missed out on seeding at Wimbledon, appeared powerless, unable to convert his measly two break points.
But ‘Thommo’ was left adamant that he had not under-performed but was just beaten by a man playing lights-out tennis as he reflected on the disappointment of being knocked out in the first two rounds seven times in eight Wimbledons.
“I think he played incredible,” shrugged Thompson. “Nothing’s wrong; he just played a great match.”
Big-serving Vukic’s dream of a grand slam showcourt date was everything he had imagined — for a set. The world No.69 reeled off four games in a row to serve for the opening stanza, only for the champion to suddenly start playing like one.
The 28-year-old Vukic is the only Aussie ever to have beaten Alcaraz in the pro ranks, having defeated the 17-year-old in French Open qualifying four years ago.
“But he was a child then,” reflected Vukic. Alcaraz the man proved a very different proposition once he got into his stride in the second set, unveiling a panoply of dramatic shot-making to blitz 42 winners and set up a third-round date with Frances Tiafoe.