In the instant after Thanasi Kokkinakis produced a massive upset over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday in New York, the Australian dropped to his back before thumping his heart in celebrating and roaring in celebration towards his support box.
“Let’s f***ing go,” he bellowed in delight, before making his way to the net to embrace the dual-grand slam finalist he had just beaten.
The raw emotional response from the 28-year-old after his 7-6 (5) 4-6 6-3 7-6 win in 3hr 54min is understandable after years of battling significant injuries, self-doubt and bad luck.
The triumph over the No.11 seed was just his second ever in New York and his first since 2019, though Kokkinakis has only managed to play five prior US Opens in the decade since he made his grand slam debut in Melbourne in 2014.
A former boys finalist at the US Open, the hard courts in Flushing Meadows appeal as suitable for the South Australian, who is among the three Aussie men to win so far on the second day of the tournament after Jordan Thompson and Tristan Schoolkate progressed in style.
Kokkinakis reaps rich rewards from both his powerful serve and also thunderous forehand, weapons which he put to good use against the No.11 seed in a highly-entertaining but also extremely physical match which saw both players receive medical treatment at different stages.
Kokkinakis, who performed admirably at Roland Garros earlier this year, held his nerve in a tight opening set, only to lose concentration deep in the second when, after holding a break point to move ahead 5-3, he played a shocker of a service game to gift his rival a break.
But after receiving treatment to his thigh muscles early in the third set, he was the stronger player against Tsitsipas, a former Australian Open and Roland Garros finalist who called for medical assessment for his abdominal area in the latter stages of the match.
Kokkinakis, who lost a match point against eventual Washington D.C champion Seb Korda in extremely unfortunate fashion a month ago, will play either Zizou Bergs or Pavel Kotov in the second round.
His performance over a top-liner in Tsitsipas occurred not long after Western Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate pulled off a massive comeback to defeat Japan’s Taro Daniel 4-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 (6) 6-4 in 3hr 49min.
The 23-year-old, who crowd-funded in the infancy of his professional career in order to raise enough money to travel to low-tier tournaments, raised his arms in delight to a roaring crowd on Court 16 after winning on his grand slam debut.
The aggressive all-court player, who is ranked 193, who has earned just over $500,000 in his career to date, will pocket at least $200,000 for reaching the second round in New York.
He faces an extremely difficult test in his second round against highly-promising Czech Republic player Jakub Mensik, who thrashed 19th seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2 6-4 6-2. The winner of that clash will play Kokkinakis in the third round should he progress.
Jordan Thompson, who missed out on a goal of being seeded in a grand slam for the first time but one ranking, enjoyed a far easier progression when outclassing Frenchman Constant Lestienne 6-1 6-3 6-2.
His prize is a second round outing against Polish star Hubert Hurkacz.
Australia’s top-ranked man Alex de Minaur is among those still to play on Day 2 of the US Open.
More to come …
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