Thanasi Kokkinakis delivers second straight statement win at the French Open

Thanasi Kokkinakis (YouTube)

For the second time this week, Thanasi Kokkinakis of Adelaide had a significant win at the 2023 French Open. Three days prior to beating 20th seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, Kokkinakis beat three-time grand slam champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to reach the third round of the only major tournament each year on clay.

Wawrinka’s tennis resume is mighty impressive. Among his three grand slam titles was the 2015 French Open, where he beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Wawrinka had also won the 2014 Australian Open and 2016 United States Open.

This was Kokkinakis’s third career win at a major that went to five sets. He previously upset Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 5-7, 6-0, 1-6, 7-6, 8-6 in the first round of the 2015 Australian Open, and then beat fellow Australian Bernard Tomic of Gold Coast 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6 in the second round of the 2015 French Open.

Kokkinakis will next play Karen Khachanov of Russia. the 11th seed, and 2022 United States Open semifinalist and 2023 Australian Open semifinalist, in the third round. Interestingly when Kokkinakis beat Gulbis at the Australian Open eight years, Gulbis was the 11th seed. Kokkinakis lost the only prior meeting to Khachanov. That came in the first round of Monte Carlo in 2018, where Khachanov won 7-5, 6-4.

Two Australian men will be competing on Thursday in round two. The 18th seed Alex De Minaur of Sydney is facing Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, and Max Purcell of Sydney is facing the 27th seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan. De Minaur has never played Etcheverry, while Purcell and Nishioka have beaten each other once. However, both those matches came in challenger events.

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