Four hours and 26 minutes: Aussie underdog Rinky Hijikata’s five-set victory over world number 128 Yannick Hanfmann on Monday night was the definition of an epic.
Of the whopping eight five-setters on the opening day of the Australian Open (including fellow Aussie John Millman’s own comeback win), Hijikata’s was the longest and the most remarkable.
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No other player fought back from losing the first two sets.
In the words of the Aussie world number 169, he was “struggling big time” and “pretty done” in…
