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Alcaraz into round 3 as Blinkova knocks out Rybakina after epic tie-break

Melbourne, Australia, Jan 18 (EFE).- Spanish second seed Carlos Alcaraz beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego on Thursday in the second round of the Australian Open.

Alcaraz, who has never made it beyond the third round in Melbourne, was too much for Sonego, despite an inspired performance from the Italian.

The Murcian youngster beat the 46th ranked player 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 7-6 (3) to progress to the next round, where he will face China’s Shang Juncheng.

Later on Thursday, Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev came back from two sets down to outlast Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0 in a marathon encounter that lasted nearly four and a half hours and finished after 3:30 am local time.

The highlight of Thursday’s action arguably came in the women’s draw, where the longest tie-break in Grand Slam singles history saw Anna Blinkova of Russia stun third seed Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.

After two hours and 46 minutes of action, Blinkova emerged victorious with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (20) win.

The 57th ranked player clinched the historic win on her 10th match point during the epic third set tie-break, which lasted over 30 minutes.

“This day I will remember for the rest of my life,” she said afterwards.

Blinkova moves on to round 3, where she will face 26th seed Jasmine Paolini.

Rybakina was not the only big name player to be dumped out of the women’s draw on Thursday, as Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu lost out to China’s Wang Yafan 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. EFE

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