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Australian wildcard Alexei Popyrin is through to the third round after an epic five set match against eighth seeded American Taylor Fritz.
The match went for more than four hours as Popyrin was forced into a fifth set after Fritz fought off a match point to win the fourth set.
The home crowd is ecstatic as Popyrin threw his arms in the air as he won the fifth set 6-2.
Popyrin d Fritz 6-7(4-7), 7-6(7-2) 6-4, 6-7(6-8), 6-2
By the time Andy Murray defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in his 250th Grand Slam match, the clock ticked just past 4.05am.
Incredibly, a sizeable and vociferous crowd had remained glued to their seats inside the Margaret Court Arena.
Here, Murray reflects on the second-round thriller.
Former world No.1 Andy Murray has shown Thanasi Kokkinakis who’s boss, grinding out a gob-smacking five-set comeback victory to earn a spot in the Australian Open third round.
Winning the opening two sets and leading 5-2 in the third, Kokkinakis looked on track to complete a rare daily treble by Australian men, with Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur earlier banking rousing second round wins.
But instead the South Australian was left heart-broken with the Scot spoiling the party with a 4-6 6-7 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5 defeat which lasted five hours 45 minutes - the second longest in Australian Open history.
Read the full story here.
AAP
Another long and action-packed day at Melbourne Park has come to an end with two Aussies making it through to the third round on Friday.
It started with Aussie rising star Alexei Popyrin who beat US player Tyler Fritz in a major upset.
The world No.113 sensationally dumped Fritz out of the Australian Open on Thursday night to claim his second top-10 scalp.
And he wasn’t the only Australian to make it through to the third round, with Alex de Minaur securing his spot by beating Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in four sets.
Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis is still battling it out with Andy Murray as of 2am.
Andy Murray has won the tiebreak and is facing Thanasi Kokkinakis in a fourth set.
He claimed the tiebreak 7-5, though he was trailing 5-2 at one stage during the third set.
But that will be the last post from the blog about this match, tune in tomorrow for the outcome.
Andy Murray has managed to force a second tiebreak in the third set.
But if Kokkinakis wins, it will put the Australian player through to the third round.
Andy Murray has broken Thanasi Kokkinakis serve in the third set, and has managed to level the score to 5-5.
During his service game Murray has managed to level the score for this set, and could potentially ruin the Australian’s chances of claiming the match in straight sets.
“Murray refusing to budge,” Sam Smith said from the commentary box.
Novak Djokovic says his hamstring injury is “not ideal” and he is worried about whether his body will hold up through the whole tournament.
“I wish some things were different with the way I feel with my leg, but it is what it is and I have to take it day by day,” he said in a post-match press conference.
To give himself time to recover, Djokovic said he was not practising on the days in between matches.
“At least you have some time to try to recover and get ready for the next match,” he said.
“At the same time, I have to accept the circumstances and try to adjust myself with my team. My physio and medical team have been doing everything possible so that I will be able to play every match.
“There’s two choices … leave it, or keep going. So I’m going to keep going and I’m going to try to play and compete with of course a great player Dimitrov in a couple of days.
“I know matches are only going to get tougher for me from here.”
Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis argued with the chair umpire and smashed his racquet after a spectacular point from Andy Murray.
The player argued about a call the chair umpire made on Margaret Court Arena during the third set.
“You cannot call that,” he said in the heated exchange over a time violation.
“You’re just saying that because you feel bad about him [Murray],” Kokkinakis told the umpire.
Australian player Thanasi Kokkinakis has won the second set, after it went to a tiebreak against Andy Murray.
He won the second set 7-6, after winning the first set 6-4.
Thanasi Kokkinakis managed to hold serve and has forced the set to go to tiebreak against Andy Murray.
He was able to secure the first set against the British player 6-4, but Murray clawed his way back in the second set.
The pair is currently battling it out, with Kokkinakis leading.