Thanasi Kokkinakis roared back from the brink of defeat after four-and-a-quarter hours in sweltering Paris heat. He launched another trademark five-set comeback at the French Open.
On a manic Monday, Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina also braved brutal conditions to prevail. Injury-plagued Kokkinakis, who feared at the Australian Open his career could be sunk by chronic shoulder trouble, defied all odds to outlast French leftie Terence Atmane.
Kokkinakis’s Resilience on Display
Two sets to one down, then 5-3 and 30-0 behind in the decider as the local served for the match, Adelaide’s finest conjured up all his old famed resilience to haul himself back and prevail 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 4-6 6-3 7-5.
It was classic Kokkinakis, going to a fifth-set decider for the 16th time in his career and eking out a ninth win after four hours 18 minutes. Amid all the baiting by the crowd, he riled them further by furiously disputing a line call with the umpire just as he was serving to take the match into a final set. He won that argument, too.
For a 30-year-old who reckons the next 12 months will make or break his career as he attempts his latest comeback from a career-saving shoulder op 18 months ago, it felt simply glorious.
De Minaur Advances in Straight Sets
Earlier, Alex de Minaur launched his French Open bid with a straight-sets stroll in the Paris sunshine. He wasn’t at his very best but still had too much quality for British qualifier Toby Samuel.
Australia’s top hope and a rejuvenated Daria Kasatkina powered through to the second round on a sweltering Monday at Roland Garros. However, teenager Emerson Jones was given an hour-long lesson by Iga Swiatek.
De Minaur’s Rediscovered Focus
De Minaur reckoned he had rediscovered his focus and confidence at the Hamburg Open last week after a clay-court slump in which he’d suffered three early tournament exits.
Buoyed by stepping onto the sun-baked Roland Garros courts, he outplayed British main draw debutant Toby Samuel 6-4 6-4 6-2.
The big-serving, confident 23-year-old Briton had shown he wasn’t to be trifled with as he sent Belgian veteran David Goffin into Roland Garros retirement with victory in qualifying. Having risen 1,786 places to No 159 in the world since the end of 2024, he matched the world No 7 in the early exchanges.
Eighth seed de Minaur was too solid, grabbing a break at 3-2 after a series of errors from Samuel, and taking out the set in 35 minutes.
The Sydneysider was out of sorts at the start of the second, playing an awful service game to go down 2-0 before hitting back instantly, taking control again with a break for 4-3, even though the Brit will look back on a series of missed chances.
By the third set, with temperatures now soaring to 33C, de Minaur hit the accelerator, winning the last four games.