Editing Kokkinakis Earns Open Win Redemption For Murray Loss

Thanasi Kokkinakis has gone some way towards vanquishing last year's heartbreaking Australian Open loss to Andy Murray by claiming a typical five-set victory in his Melbourne Park opener.<br><br>A year on from his 4am exit after a marathon with five-time runner-up Murray, Kokkinakis outlasted Austrian Sebastian Ofner 7-6 (7-1) 2-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 7-6 (10-8) in front of a raucous Kia Arena crowd.<br><br>In the process, the 27-year-old teed up a tantalising clash with 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Marton Fucsovics earlier on Tuesday.<br><br>The gruelling four hour, 18 minute five-setter, coming back from a two-sets-to-one deficit, brought out the best out of the Australian.<br><br>"Mate, I wish I could do it easier but I can't," he said.<br><br>"I've got the mental focus of a three-year-old.<br><br>"However I can get it done, you guys (the crowd) are amazing. Without you, [https://getb8.us no deposit bonus online casinos usa] chance I'm winning."<br><br>Kokkinakis let last year's second-round clash with Murray slip over the course of five hours and 45 minutes - the second-longest match in Open history.<br><br>When asked what was going on inside his head during the Ofner match, he said: "You don't wanna know.<br><br>"Battling some serious demons, that's for sure.<br><br>"I had a tough end to last year,  [https://getb8.us online play money casino] tough start to this year and I know it's the first round but this one meant a lot.<br><br>"Obviously last year that one hurt. I had a couple of junkies come up to me at Crown [https://getb8.us Casino] ripping me for that loss against Murray.<br><br>"Didn't enjoy that too much but glad I could make amends and win a five-setter here."<br><br>Kokkinakis battled through a see-sawing match tiebreak to reach the second round for a fifth time.<br><br>The South Australian landed two match points and while Ofner managed to save the first on serve he hit the second on Kokkinakis's serve into the net.<br><br>Kokkinakis will attempt to reach the third round for the first time when he faces No.13 seed Dimitrov.<br><br>"Grigor's a hell of a player, been doing this for a while now and he is in some great form right now," Kokkinakis said.<br><br>"But yeah, I back myself ... I've beaten high-ranked players before, I've lost to lower-ranked players. It's a number.<br><br>"It's about coming out on the day and playing my best tennis - hopefully I can do that."<br><br>If you beloved this article and also you would like to get more info regarding [https://getb8.us biggest casino online] i implore you to visit our web-page.