{"id":264772,"date":"2023-01-20T03:09:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T04:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=264772"},"modified":"2023-01-20T22:58:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T22:58:30","slug":"priceless-moment-lost-in-murray-kokkinakis-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=264772","title":{"rendered":"Priceless moment lost in Murray-Kokkinakis epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

So\ufeff rich with storylines was Thursday night's marathon battle between Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis<\/a> that one priceless moment quickly found itself buried.<\/p>\n

As the British icon and Australian talent\ufeff launched into another rally during the fifth game of the fourth set, Kokkinakis<\/a> with a one-set lead in his keeping, Murray<\/a> whacked a forehand and the ball caught the lip of the net.<\/p>\n

It popped over the net on the chair umpire's side and, after racing in from behind the baseline, Kokkinakis angled the ball to the other side of the court.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Australian Open 2023 day five highlights<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Devastated' Aussie's four-word tweet at 4.28am\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tournament boss defends Aussie Open 'farce'\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

That left Murray with an open expanse of blue to work with, the three-time singles major winner\ufeff lapping up the gift as he bunted the ball deep.<\/p>\n

Kokkinakis couldn't contain his frustration, screaming in disbelief at his misfortune, shaking the net by the cord and slapping it.<\/p>\n

Murray? He\ufeff dipped his head, began wandering back to the baseline, scratched his neck and grinned, amused by his stroke of luck at Margaret Court Arena.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perhaps he had a flashback to the moment that had sealed his five-set win over Matteo Berrettini two nights earlier<\/a>\ufeff: a clip of the net that bobbled over and dashed his rival's campaign.<\/p>\n

"Is that Andy smiling a little bit?"\ufeff said commentator Darren Cahill with a laugh on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Watch the Australian Open live and free on the Nine Network: Channel 9, 9Gem and<\/strong><\/em> 9NOW<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Tension, heartache, delight and humour \u2014 the moment had it all.<\/p>\n

Kokkinakis' agony was Murray's bliss.<\/p>\n

Both men had low moments \u2014 and a myriad of them.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Murray, who had never fought back to win from a two-set deficit at the Australian Open, dropped the first two sets.<\/p>\n

He was then broken in the second game of the third, Kokkinakis establishing a 2-0 buffer.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Adding to Murray's anxiety was his coach's empty seat; Ivan Lendl had ducked away for a bathroom break, leaving the veteran crying out.<\/p>\n

"Where are you?" he yelled, eyeballing his team's pocket in the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"Murray's<\/p>\n

The legendary Scotsman snapped again during the deciding set, swatting the court with his racquet after coughing up three break points.<\/p>\n

As the instant classic goes, that didn't matter; Murray\ufeff broke the local's serve in another game to clinch a 6-5 buffer, before holding serve to round out victory.<\/p>\n

The longest\ufeff previous match Murray had played lasted five hours and seven minutes. He withstood five hours and 45 minutes on Thursday night, eventually seizing victory when he smacked a two-handed backhand at 4.05am.<\/p>\n

"Murray is still the master," Sam\ufeff Smith said from the commentary box.<\/p>\n

Without a hint of a smile, he plucked off his cap, stroked his sweat-soaked hair and dragged his legs, one of them partly bionic, toward the net to embrace his valiant opponent.<\/p>\n

It was an hour and 35 minutes earlier that Murray and Kokkinakis had contested a theatrical point featuring a cruel net cord \u2014 a forgotten moment worthy of reminiscence.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So\ufeff rich with storylines was Thursday night's marathon battle between Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis that one priceless moment quickly found itself buried. As the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264772"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264774,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264772\/revisions\/264774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=264772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=264772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}