Ajla Tomljanovic has hauled herself from the brink of Australian Open elimination to mark her return to her home slam with an extraordinary first-round comeback win over Petra Martic.
A year after she was ruled out of the 2023 Open in tears with a knee injury that ruined most of last year, Tomljanovic came back from a 4-1 deficit in the decisive third set to prevail 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-4.
In outlasting Martic in the two-hour, 53-minute slogfest, Tomljanovic teed up a tantalising second-round clash with 11th seed Jelena Ostapenko.
“I really was out at one point,” Tomljanovic said at a sparsely packed John Cain Arena after midnight.
“I mean, I felt like she was kind of toying with me and I couldn’t read her serve.
“But 4-1 down, double break, you guys (the crowd) never gave up even more than me.
“I was like ‘if you’re here, I should give it my best’ … I’m really grateful that you all stayed this late.”
The 30-year-old had heavy strapping on her left thigh but it didn’t seem to affect her mobility.
In a rollercoaster first set, Tomljanovic spurned two set points on serve at 5-4, then was broken.
The Australian broke Martic after a game that stretched beyond 20 minutes but was broken back when she served for the set a second time.
Tomljanovic raced away to victory in the tiebreak, ending a 73-minute first set.
But Martic responded in style, bursting away to a 3-0 lead in the second set, then closing it out.
The Croatian big-hitter appeared on track to knock out the local hope until Tomljanovic turned the tide.
“She really keeps you on your toes. I felt like I never really got settled to play my game because she hits amazing shots,” Tomljanovic said.
“Then I can’t read her serve all the time so I felt like I really had to hang in there because I knew it could turn on a dime.
“Look, there was a bit of luck tonight and I’ll take it.”
Tomljanovic will now prepare for Ostapenko, who she had a fiery on-court dispute with at Wimbledon in 2021.
Kokkinakis earns Open win
On Tuesday afternoon, Thanasi Kokkinakis went some way towards vanquishing last year’s heartbreaking Australian Open loss to Andy Murray by claiming a typical five-set victory in his Melbourne Park opener.
A year on from his 4am exit after a marathon with five-time runner-up Murray, Kokkinakis outlasted Austrian Sebastian Ofner 7-6 (7-1) 2-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 7-6 (10-8) in front of a raucous Kia Arena crowd.
In the process, the 27-year-old teed up a tantalising clash with 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Marton Fucsovics earlier on Tuesday.
The gruelling four hour, 18 minute five-setter, coming back from a two-sets-to-one deficit, brought out the best out of the Australian.
“Mate, I wish I could do it easier but I can’t,” he said.
“I’ve got the mental focus of a three-year-old.
“However I can get it done, you guys (the crowd) are amazing. Without you, no chance I’m winning.”
Kokkinakis let last year’s second-round clash with Murray slip over the course of five hours and 45 minutes – the second-longest match in Open history.
When asked what was going on inside his head during the Ofner match, he said: “You don’t wanna know.
“Battling some serious demons, that’s for sure.
“I had a tough end to last year, tough start to this year and I know it’s the first round but this one meant a lot.
“Obviously last year that one hurt. I had a couple of junkies come up to me at Crown Casino ripping me for that loss against Murray.
“Didn’t enjoy that too much but glad I could make amends and win a five-setter here.”
Kokkinakis battled through a see-sawing match tiebreak to reach the second round for a fifth time.
The South Australian landed two match points and while Ofner managed to save the first on serve he hit the second on Kokkinakis’s serve into the net.
Kokkinakis will attempt to reach the third round for the first time when he faces No.13 seed Dimitrov.
“Grigor’s a hell of a player, been doing this for a while now and he is in some great form right now,” Kokkinakis said.
“But yeah, I back myself … I’ve beaten high-ranked players before, I’ve lost to lower-ranked players. It’s a number.
“It’s about coming out on the day and playing my best tennis – hopefully I can do that.”
-AAP
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