Continuing our Season In Review Series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the biggest Grand Slam comebacks of 2015. In today’s countdown we feature Nos. 5-3:
Thanasi Kokkinakis d. Bernard Tomic 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6/R64/Roland Garros
Two sets down to fellow Aussie young gun Bernard Tomic in the second-round in Paris, 19-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis brought the Court 7 crowd to its collective feet, roaring back and saving three match points to score an unlikely 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6 victory in in three hours and 24 minutes.
In doing so, the No. 84-ranked Australian became the first teen to reach the third round at Roland-Garros since Latvian Ernests Gulbis in 2008.
The 6-foot-5 young guns had already faced off twice in 2015, Tomic emerging victorious on both occasions. But in this dramatic encounter, he would let three match points slip away at 5-2 in the fifth.
“I was going mental in the first two sets when I couldn’t take a break point,” said Kokkinakis. “I don’t know what my conversion rate was [23 per cent/five of 22], but it was driving me insane. But I kept hanging in there. I trusted my fitness, and it paid off.”
“It was an emotional celebration,” Kokkinakis added. “Second time I have come back from two sets to love.”
Kokkinakis had saved four match points in defeating 11th seed Gulbis in the opening round of the Australian Open 5-7, 6-0, 1-6, 7-6(2), 8-6.
Nick Kyrgios d. Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 8-6/R16/Australian Open
His 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3 Round of 16 shocker against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014 was indeed a grand introduction to the ATP World Tour for Nick Kyrgios. But it was at the 2015 Australian Open that the 19-year-old Greco-Malaysian-Aussie truly stepped into the spotlight when he stormed back from a two-set deficit to defeat Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 8-6, becoming his home-nation Slam’s breakout star.
An electric, filled-to-capacity Hisense Arena crowd roared in delight as Kyrgios saved a match point to secure his second-ever Grand Slam quarter-final in only his seventh major tournament appearance. He became the first Australian man to reach the elite eight at the event since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.
Kyrgios, who became the first teen since Roger Federer in 2001 to reach multiple Grand Slam quarter-finals, would call it “the best feeling I ever had”.
“This is actually the most nervous I’ve ever been, going out against Seppi in the fourth round,” said Kyrgios. “When I saw I had finally won the match it was incredible.”
The turning point came early in the third set, when Kyrgios scored an all-important break in the second game to stem the tide.
“That just established that I wasn’t going to go away,” he said. “I was just going to compete till the very end. I started playing really well in the third set. I knew if I could just hang on some way and take it to a fifth set, it’s anyone’s match.”
“I just played a couple bad games at the beginning of the third set,” said Seppi, who a round earlier had dispatched 17-time Slam champion Federer. “I missed three easy forehands for the break. He played a little bit more relaxed after that.”
Donald Young d. Viktor Troicki 4-6, 0-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-4/R32/US Open
It was only fitting. How better to bid farewell to the aging 6,000-seat Grandstand, an intimate venue unlike any other in the sport. Where else in tennis can you so easily shuttle back and forth between show courts (Grandstand and Louis Armstrong Stadium)? What other court features a walkway upon which fans can look directly into a player’s eyes as they toss the ball skyward on serve? Over the years, the one-of-a-kind venue has played home to some of the US Open’s most thrilling matches, and the Donald Young vs. Viktor Troicki affair — the last official singles match to be played on the court before its scheduled demolition — will rank right up there with the very best.
The left-hander had already battled back from a two-sets-to-love deficit in the opening round, shocking 11th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. On the brink of defeat once more, the American brought the rowdy and decidedly one-sided home crowd to its feat as he fought his way past the Serb with aggressive shotmaking and never-say-die attitude.
Young, 26, needed three hours and 33 minutes to clinch the win. He had two match points on his racquet at 5-3, but sealed the victory in the following game with a down-the-line forehand winner.
“Showing you can fight and come back is a great feeling at the end of the day. It was 90 per cent you guys, 10 per cent me,” he told the crowd, which chanted “U-S-A” throughout the match. “I am so happy to be able to do it in front of you guys. Thanks for the support. It definitely did [feel a bit like Davis Cup]. I was on the other end of a match like this earlier this year in Scotland against Andy Murray, so to have you guys 100 per cent for me felt amazing. I really appreciate that.”
A sparkling new 10,000-seat Grandstand will be unveiled on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2016, while the old facility — a remnant of the 1964 World’s Fair — will serve as a practice facility until its demolition.
Coming Tuesday: The Two Biggest Grand Slam Comebacks of 2015
