Best of 2024
The longest US Open match in the 2024 Slam headlines
Medvedev, Kokkinakis get thrilling wins
December 05, 2024
Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Daniel Evans defeated Karen Khachanov in a memorable five-setter at the US Open.
By ATP staff
To mark the end of another sensational season, ATPtour.com presents our annual 'Best Of' series, which will showcase the most impressive rivalries, matches, comebacks, upsets and more. Today we recall the five best Grand Slam updates this season.
5) Australian Open R2, Daniil Medvedev d. Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-0
As dawn broke in Melbourne, Daniil Medvedev avoided a morning upset by collecting two sets to love down, a position he would regain in the semi-finals against Alexander Zverev. It would have been easy for Medvedev to shrink after losing a topsy-turvy, 83-minute second set against Emil Ruusuvuori. But the 20-time tour-level winner did the opposite, storming back to finally win at 3:40 a.m.
“This one will definitely stay in my memory,” Medvedev said after the victory that lasted four hours, 23 minutes.
The 28-year-old showed the first signs of hand rust in his first competition of the season. “I was lost everywhere,” he later assessed. But Medvedev matched the Finn's clean hitting and raised his level at key moments, such as when he had two points in a 4-5 loss in the fourth set.
Moments later, he raced past a break in the fourth set to level at two sets apiece and asserted his dominance in the decider as Ruusuvuori began to struggle physically.
Medvedev chose to use the same racquet from the third set onwards, instead of using the change of ball as a reference to take a new stick from his bag, the approach of many players.
“I finally found one where I feel like I'm playing better. Sometimes it's just something you create in your mind,” said Medvedev. “I stayed with this race. I started with it at the beginning of the third set and stayed with it until the end of the match.”
4) US Open R2, Jiri Lehecka d. Mitchell Krueger 6-7(5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5
At the US Open, Jiri Lehecka was competing in his second tournament since injuring his back in April in Madrid. It looked like the lack of games caught up with the 22-year-old when he faced American Mitchell Krueger.
The Czech reeled off 11 games in a row from 6-5 down in the first set and suddenly, he was three games away from the season finale.
But the 32nd seed turned up the heat and hit hard, hitting 67 winners throughout the match, to claim her first two-set win in one minute at four o'clock in a sweltering New York afternoon. Lehecka improved to 4-1 in five sets.
Jiri Lehecka survives Mitchell Krueger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”https://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2024/11/27/17/19/lehecka-us -open-2024-krueger.jpg”>
Jiri Lehecka playing at Flushing Meadows. Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
3) Wimbledon R1, Thanasi Kokkinakis d. Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 5-7, 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-4
When it comes to five sets, Thanasi Kokkinakis knows it well. This season alone, the Australian has made five appearances in the major leagues going the distance, making all but one start. Against 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime at Wimbledon, Kokkinakis raced to a 5/0 lead at the break of the third set but lost six points in a row to face match point. The Canadian gave up four break points, allowing Kokkinakis to come back from two sets to love, for the second time this season.
“I do whatever it takes,” Kokkinakis said. “Obviously I would have liked to take it easy, but I had a few moments of concentration in the first two sets. I knew I wasn't too far off, but I just lost my focus.”
The job wasn't finished after the dramatic break. The first round game was suspended due to darkness and it was 1-1 in the fourth game. Then, the 28-year-old overcame a difficult night of sleep, no longer defeated.
After four hours and 38 minutes of play, and a slight rain delay, Kokkinakis earned his first double Top 20 win of the season (d. Tsitsipas, US Open R1). The Adelaide native raised his arms in the air before hitting his chest with his racquet and smiling at his box, which included former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt.
Thanasi Kokkinakis celebrates his impressive Wimbledon first round win.” style=”width:100%;” src=”https://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2024/11/27 /17/ 36/kokkinakis-wimbledon-felix-2024.jpg”>
Thanasi Kokkinakis celebrates his stunning Wimbledon first round win. Credit: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images
2) Wimbledon R1, Tomas Machac d. David Goffin 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(5)
On the same day that Kokkinakis completed his comeback, the magic of London spread throughout the SW19 venues. Tomas Machac came from 0-5 down in the fifth set against David Goffin, marking the first such comeback since 1993. It was a huge turn of events for Machac, who was scheduled to face Andy Murray on Center Court ahead of the previous Worlds. No. 1 in the withdrawal of the PIF ATP Rankings.
“This game will remain in the mind,” said Machac. “I was still trying to play my game and I believed that I could at least break him once, let's see what will happen after that. I had the opportunity to break him for the second time in a row and I took the opportunity and completely changed the game for my side.”
The 23-year-old was facing the wall for most of the match, which was played over two days. Goffin was leading 6-3, 4-2 before the match was suspended for the evening. After trailing two sets to love, Machac broke three separate times in the third set. Both men had nine service breaks in a match that lasted three hours, 17 minutes.
Goffin later avenged a tough Wimbledon defeat with a straight sets win against Machac in the third round of the US Open.
1) US Open R1, Daniel Evans d. Karen Khachanov 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4
It was a comeback summer for Daniel Evans, who partnered Andy Murray at the Paris Olympics, where they remarkably fought back seven match points (five in the first round, two in the second round) to reach the quarter-finals of the Scot's final. event.
Evans, 34, also played in a memorable match at Flushing Meadows. She won the longest match in US Open history, a five-hour, 35-minute thriller against 23rd seed Karen Khachanov.
History was made at the US Open 🤯
5 HOURS AND 35 MINUTES. Dan Evans and Karen Khachanov… 👏@uvule | #USOVula pic.twitter.com/cbl3xtACfS
– ATP Tour (@atptour) August 27, 2024
“It was a long, long battle. It was the type of people who would last a long time in the end,” said Evans. “I just tried to scrub it little by little. Each point I was obviously really struggling with my legs. I was doing well in service when I came back, so that gave me a little hope.”
For a while, it seemed the conflict would not make history. Khachanov went ahead 4-0 in the fifth set and scored four break points on Evans's serve, but could not convert. The crowd on Court 6, in a frenzy, called for Evans to return to the match and roared with joy as she finished the match, which lasted more than an hour in all five sets. The third set was the longest at 72 minutes.
Coming into the tournament, Evans had won just four tour-level matches this season and hadn't beaten a Top 100 opponent since March in Miami. Considered one of the sport's fiercest competitors, Evans battled, and battled with others, to improve to 5-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Khachanov, securing a major Grand Slam comeback in 2024.
“I think you are still a child and you are told to fight until the end. I mean, that's the first rule,” Evans said. “I have done that consistently in my career.”
