Thanasi Kokkinakis showcased all the spirit, persistence and determination required to defeat a Roland Garros champion at the clay-court major on Wednesday, where the Australian took out Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.

Kokkinakis had turned a set-and-a-break deficit into a two-sets-to-one advantage on Court Simonne-Mathieu, but the 2015 winner Wawrinka raced to an ultimately unassailable 5/0 lead in the fourth-set tie-break to force a deciding set in front of an enraptured crowd.

The 27-year-old Kokkinakis recaptured the momentum by charging to a 4-0 lead in the decider, before Wawrinka rallied again. In a dramatic final game at 5-3, the Swiss saved four match points after fighting back from 40/0 down on return, but he was powerless to stop the fifth as Kokkinakis dug deep to claim victory in a four-hour, 38-minute epic.

Prior to his first-round triumph against Daniel Evans, Kokkinakis had not won a main draw match at Roland Garros since 2015, when he reached the third round. The World No. 108 will now bid for his maiden fourth-round appearance in Paris when he takes on 11th seed Karen Khachanov or qualifier Radu Albot next.

More to follow…