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Australian star Thanasi Kokkinakis burst into tears on the court after claiming his first victory in the open from Australia since 2015.
Kokkinakis’ career has been sorely injured since he made his way into the top 100 six years ago, with his current ranking of 267 being its lowest since 2017.
He was forced to retire injured in his last Melbourne appearance in 2019, before missing the tournament all together last year, but marked his return with a 6-4 6-1 6-1 demolition job of first-round opponent Kwon Soon- courting.
The 24-year-old’s victory was greeted with enthusiastic applause on Court 3, and Kokkinakis was overcome with emotion after sitting down and soaking up the moment.
“At 5-0 (in the third set) I obviously didn’t want to think about the finish line, but I did,” he said.
“I felt that massive roar and massive cheer from the crowd and just started to cry.
“There is so much behind the scenes to get back to this point that few people realize outside of my team, friends and family.”
Kokkinakis’ ecstasy was a stark contrast to his compatriot Jordan thompsonAgony after being forced to retire injured in his own first-round clash.
After a sensational preparation tournament Last week Thompson was forced to retire in the third set with his opponent, Norwegian 24th seed Casper Ruud, who held a 6-3 6-3 2-1 lead.
It was a bitterly disappointing result for the 26-year-old who was looking to build on a fourth-round appearance at last year’s US Open.
“It’s an unfortunate end to start the year by retiring to your home from the Grand Slam,” Australian tennis great Mark Philippoussis said on coverage of Nine.
“Obviously he must be very uncomfortable with a lot of pain to take away as he’s normally a fighter who fights until the very last point.
“Ruud is a very difficult player, but he’s someone he’s beaten in the past and the last time they played it was a five-set.”
Until the second round, Kokkinakis’ task to move forward becomes exponentially more difficult with a game against Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on the cards.
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