Through three rounds of the Australian Open, there have been a whopping 29 five-setters. Yes, the drama at Melbourne Park has been off the charts.
Nobody has been more responsible for it to a greater extent than Jack Draper–much to the chagrin of the Aussie crowd. Draper has broken their hearts twice, first outlasting Thanasi Kokkinakis in round two before beating Aleksandar Vukic on Friday. Combined with his opening defeat of Mariano Navone, the British left-hander has played the maximum 15 sets.
“He played incredible,” Draper said of Vukic following his 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(10-8) victory that lasted three hours and 58 minutes. “It was a tough match and we have both played a lot of sets in our first couple of rounds, so I knew it would be tough. There were lots of ebbs and flows and it was great tennis. I thought it was done (at 3-1 in the final set), but he came back from the dead and played incredible. We are suffering in the five sets and you sometimes get little bits of energy.
“It was a great battle between two competitors going at it and that is what sport is all about.”
If Draper has been the Marathon Man, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has been the Comebck Kid.
Davidovich Fokina has won each of his last two matches from two sets down–and against very tough opponents, too. The Spaniard upset Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7(7), 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 in the longest match of the tournament so far (four hours and 51 minutes) and then stunned Jakub Mensik 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-2 after saving two match points. Mensik led 30-0 while serving for the match at 6-5 in the third set only to see Davidovich Fokina storm back.
“I like to lose the first two sets and then comeback,” ADF joked. “I don’t know how to describe this feeling. It is the first time I have won three matches in a row in Australia and it means a lot. Coming back from two sets to love, I had never done it and now I have done it two times in a row.
“In all these years I had a lot of up and downs. I had decided this year to fight for every point. It doesn’t matter how the result is going. I don’t look at the result. I think to be quiet and just focus, to play and enjoy the match. I think that gives me a lot of strength and power to still continue.”
Holger Rune channeled that same mentality on Saturday night (or more like Sunday morning), when he won the 29th five-setter of the fortnight by overcoming cramps to beat Miomir Kecmanovic.
All of this drama and we still have a whole week to go!
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
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