Australian Open 2015: Teenage duo Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios thrill home fans
Monday 19 January 2015 23:30, UK
Teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis has beaten 11th seed Ernests Gulbis in the biggest shock of the opening day of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The 18-year-old Australian saved four match points and delighted spectators on Court Three in a five-set thriller which lasted over four hours and ended close to midnight.
Fighting back from two sets to one down, Kokkinakis made it home 5-7 6-0 1-6 7-6 (7-2) 8-6 but looked to be on his way out in the fourth set.
Trailing 5-6 and serving, the six-foot, five-inch from Adelaide saved successive match points at 15-40 down and then staved off two more in a marathon game that required 18 points to complete.
And after racing through the resulting tie-break – in which he won six successive points – Kokkinakis had to save three break points in the 13th game of the deciding set.
He then clinched the biggest win of his career on his second match point in a contest that yielded 44 aces (29 to Gulbis) and 29 double faults (18 by the Latvian).
And there was more delight for home fans later in the evening when Nick Kyrgios beat Federico Delbonis of Argentina in another tense five-setter.
The 19-year-old, who shocked Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year, won 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-3 6-7(7-5) 6-3 in a big-hitting encounter that produced almost as many unforced errors as winners.
His reward is a second round encounter with the big-serving No 23 seed Ivo Karlovic.
