Nobody blink! Anna Blinkova saves six match points to topple Elena Rybakina in historic tie-break

"Where do we start?" asked Laura Robson when interviewing Anna Blinkova Thursday night on Rod Laver Arena.

On a Thursday full of near upsets, Elena Rybakina couldn’t manage to join precocious escape artists with the most miraculous survival act of all.

On her 10th chance to close out the No. 3 seed, after saving six match points of her own in a 93-minute deciding set, Blinkova prevailed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20), in the longest singles tie-break (men or women) in Grand Slam history—per the ITF.

"I had so many match points," the Russian said as the crowd laughed along with her. "I tried to be aggressive in these moments, but my hands were shaking. My legs, too."

Before the indescribable final-set tiebreaker commenced, Blinkova had twice served for the match. At 6-5. Blinkova turned a 15-30 deficit into 40-30 for her first match point. A cool Rybakina, who had struggled with an issue near her ankle as the contest wore on, rolled a backhand crosscourt winner to save it, then faced the same situation when her forehand missed by the narrowest of margins.

Blinkova was unable to hit through the Kazakh in finding the net and two points later, double faulted to bring up a stretch of tennis that will stick with those inside for years to come.

Down a double mini break at 1-4, Rybakina’s coach Stefano Vukov told his charge. “You have to try to play simple. We got this far, we can do it.”

A double fault in the ad-court once again undid Blinkova, igniting a four-point run for the incoming Brisbane International champion as she worked to shorten points and increase her margins. Blinkova stayed with Rybakina, moving ahead 8-7 on serve. A gutsy outstretched forehand brought up two more match points for the feisty competitor.

Little did anyone know this was just the beginning of a lot more tension to come.

While Rybakina’s forehand proved to be loose all night long, she somehow always seemed to find one with her back against the wall. There was 10-11 when she saved her sixth match point and 16-17 when she erased her eighth, both with forehand winners.

When Rybakina arrived at her first match point at 12-11, it was Blinkova’s turn to deliver under pressure with a forehand winner of her own. After Rybakina popped an ace out wide at 13-14, Blinkova would stave off four of the next five match point opportunities, matching the Kazakh in composure and grit. The 25-year-old courageously put away an overhead down 14-15, then hunted down Rybakina’s airy drop shot at 17-18 with enough weight behind her forehand to draw a volley error in the most gripping exchange of all.

Somehow, some way, Blinkova contained the emotions running through her head when she had one foot out the door.

"I had negative thoughts coming to my head, especially when I could not convert my match points and I was match point down on the return. I had a lot of thoughts what if she serves well, what if she hits big first serve, it's going to be over," she told press.

"I tried to push these thoughts away. I was telling myself to cut the trajectory, accelerate the hand on the return. I was telling myself to stay solid all the time, just to keep running everywhere and putting all the balls in the court."

Finally, on her 10^th opportunity, a short ball did the trick for Blinkova. Forced to come in, Rybakina pushed a backhand wide to see her bid for a second major title come to a crushing end.

As Blinkova perfectly closed, "This day I will remember for the rest of my life."

We will, too.