Her hand and her legs were shaking, she’d missed nine match points but also saved six, and Anna Blinkova was 41 points into a wild tie-breaker that was the longest ever in a women’s grand slam event.

Elena Rybakina, last year’s Australian Open runner-up, was just as anxious on the other side of the net.

When Blinkova lunged to retrieve a backhand, aiming just to keep the rally alive, and Rybakina’s next backhand sailed wide, it finished off a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20) second-round victory on Thursday that she’ll never forget.

“It took me courage,” 25-year-old Blinkova said. “It took me some certain calmness to stay in the present and to play point by point.”

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who was runner-up here last year to Aryna Sabalenka, saved two match points in a third set that contained six service breaks.

Blinkova twice served for the match but couldn’t finish off, and a double fault in the 12th game sent it to a 10-point tie-breaker. Once there, 13 minutes after her first match point, Blinkova had two more points at 9-7 but again Rybakina saved them, and so it went on.

Blinkova, smiling, later described it as the “endless tie-breaker”. It went on for 32 minutes until Rybakina’s backhand error ended it.

In terms of points — 42 — it was the longest tie-breaker ever in any grand slam singles match, as tweeted by the International Tennis Federation.

“It was super tough. I had so many match points,” said Blinkova, who is ranked 57th and had 13 first-round exits in her previous 20 majors. “I tried to be aggressive but my hand was shaking. And my legs, too! I tried to be calm, as much as I could.”

It was one that Rybakina will dwell on, too. She knew she wasted chances.

But “I’m really proud that I could fight till the end”, the Kazakh said. “I mean, you can’t always play perfect. And of course, I could have lost it even earlier.”

The longest women’s tie-break before Thursday was in last year’s Wimbledon when Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko won 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (20-18) over Ana Bogdan in the third round. That matched the men’s record from the Australian Open first set during Andy Roddick’s win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2007.

“This day I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Blinkova said as the crowd gave the players a standing ovation. “...especially on this court with this crowd, I will never forget it, it’s the best day of my life so far.”