Andrey Rublev is making a habit out of winning fifth-set tiebreaks at the Australian Open.
After beating Holger Rune last season – the thriller concluding on a net-cord winner – the fifth seed overcame free-swinging Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-5 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6 (6) at Margaret Court Arena on Day 1 at Australian Open 2024.
MORE: All the scores from Day 1 at AO 2024
Another seed prevailed in five sets, too – Taylor Fritz eventually getting the better of Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta.
Few would have been surprised had Frances Tiafoe and Borna Coric lingered in their duel but the former, meanwhile, progressed in four sets.
Rublev had to rally from 4-1 down in the tiebreak, a time when the affable 26-year-old admitted an exit seemed inevitable.
“When I was losing 4-1, mentally I gave up and maybe that’s what helped me in the end because I felt a bit relieved that it’s not my day,” Rublev said in his on-court interview. “And I hit a really good few shots and returns.”
MORE: AO 2024 men's singles draw
Seyboth Wild’s own shot-making is often breathtaking, as Rublev discovered up close in their first meeting.
The Brazilian escaped three straight break points at 1-2 in the fifth with winners – later sliding a forehand around the net post – and then fended off three straight match points at 5-6 thanks greatly to a trio of potent second serves.
The world No.78 then produced a first serve to escape a fourth match point.
By then, Rublev also conceded in his interview that he pondered last year’s French Open, when Seyboth Wild struck 69 winners to down Rublev’s good pal, Daniil Medvedev, in the first round.
“I was thinking in the fifth set when I had so many opportunities and I couldn’t make it, ‘For sure we are going to see the same story like Daniil at Roland Garros,’” said Rublev. “And then, I don’t know.”
Rublev ended the clash with one of his 21 aces, then sunk to the court.
He thanked the crowd, who urged on Seyboth Wild, especially when he trailed by two sets.
“Of course when someone is losing the crowd starts to support him to have a more difficult match, and your support today almost made me lose the first round!” said Rublev.
Rublev – bidding to reach a maiden Grand Slam semifinal after eight quarterfinals – laughed. And so did the spectators.
Fritz moves on after ankle scare
Fritz landed the biggest title of his career at the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells in 2022, defeating Rafael Nadal even after sustaining an ankle injury during practice before the finale.
On Sunday at John Cain Arena, it happened during the match itself against the left-handed Diaz Acosta – at 1-2, 30-all in the second set – before the American went through 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-4 in a shade past four hours.
Fritz has now played five-setters at the Australian Open in four straight seasons.
In an example of his competitive fire, Fritz played two more shots during the rally in which he got hurt – and won the point. The trainer then paid a visit.
The 12th seed seemed to recover and wore down the reigning Pan American Games champion – that was on clay, the surface that Diaz Acosta has played most of his matches on – in the fifth.
Fritz created two break points at 4-3 prior to breaking at 5-4 against the 23-year-old ranked at a career-high 93.
Tiafoe gets better of Coric
Tiafoe’s top showing at a major came when he made the semifinals on home soil at the US Open in 2022, but his first Grand Slam quarterfinal resulted at AO 2019.
The 17th seed continued his quest for back-to-back Grand Slam quarterfinals by dispatching Coric 6-3 7-6 (7) 2-6 6-3.
When they met on their previous lone occasion in 2018, Coric triumphed in five sets in the Davis Cup to send Croatia to the final. Tiafoe won a 13-11 tiebreak on that day, however, and Sunday’s tiebreak at Margaret Court Arena proved more pivotal.
Tiafoe ripped a forehand down the line to seal it – after Coric sent a backhand second-serve return into the net on his set point prior to the tiebreak.
His usually trusty backhand produced another miscue on his other set point in the tiebreak and despite a rally in the third, Tiafoe regrouped in the fourth.
“I feel great, feel really good. I wasn’t feeling too good in the third,” Tiafoe, with new coach Diego Moyano in tow, said in his post-match on-court interview.
“I went somewhere else, I don’t know where. But happy to get it done in four.”
Elsewhere on Day 1 …
Two of Diaz Acosta’s seeded countrymen, Francisco Cerundolo and Sebastian Baez, fared better.
No.22 Cerundolo beat speedy Australian qualifier Dane Sweeny – playing in his first major – 3-6 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 at John Cain Arena, while No.26 Baez advanced 3-6 6-2 6-3 3-0 ret. over JJ Wolf on Court 2.
Wolf made the fourth round 12 months ago, eventually stopped by Ben Shelton.
Despite the defeat, Sweeny won’t forget his AO 2024. Besides qualifying, he hit with Novak Djokovic ahead of the first rounder.
A “couple of beers” might be on the cards to celebrate his career-changing week.
The wins for Baez – who could meet Jannik Sinner in the third round – and Cerundolo came after the pair went a combined 0-4 in the build-up.