Bravehearted Kokkinakis falls just shy of pulling off another mega ...

The marathon run of Thanasi Kokkinakis has come to an end at Roland Garros after his bid to pull off a third massive French Open comeback in succession fell narrowly short against American star Taylor Fritz.

Bidding to join Alex de Minaur in the last 16 after his Davis Cup teammate’s stellar triumph over Jan-Lennard Struff earlier on Saturday on the same court, the South Australian trailed early before mounting another mid-match surge to deliver the No. 12 seed an almighty scare.

But ultimately the gallant bid by Kokkinakis came to an end when, after a couple of opportunities to establish the upper-hand in the deciding set went begging, the American No.1 was able to find his best form to win 6-3 6-2 6-7 (4) 5-7 6-3 in 3hr 48min.

The Australian, who bows out in the third round in Paris for the third time, had defeated compatriot Alexei Popyrin and Italian Giulio Zeppieri in five set thrillers on Tuesday and Thursday and despite digging deep once again, could not topple the world No. 12.

It was his latest finish for the tournament for the Aussie who does his best work near midnight on the court, with the third round match finishing at 11.44pm.

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PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 01: Taylor Fritz of United States celebrates a point against Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia in the Men's Singles third round match during Day Seven of the 2024 French Open at Roland Garros on June 01, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

“I’m pretty dusty. It was just a physical few days with late finishes. Obviously everyone’s in the same boat with some some tricky, but yeah, I’m pretty tired,” he said.

“It’s a tough one. I was really close. I found a way to put myself in a real real good position but it was not to be. You can’t win them all.”

After enduring another lengthy delay following persistent rain through Saturday, the Australian struggled to settle early and dropped the opening three games of the match before the weather closed in again.

When play resumed, the 28-year-old found some rhythm on serve before Fritz closed out the first set. The Melbourne-based player’s level dropped at the start of the second set as he lost the opening four games to find himself in significant peril yet again.

But trailing two sets for the second straight match, Kokkinakis managed to kick into gear as the adrenaline started to surge. It was a highly physical set, with both players clubbing big serves and thumping forehands while defending grimly.

In the tiebreaker, Kokkinakis had the upper-hand but there was a drama on set point when he celebrated thinking a return from Fritz had floated wide.

But there was no line call and a perplexing scene ensued involving the Australian, umpire Alison Hughes and at one stage Fritz as the umpire tried to decide on where the ball landed before the point and set was ultimately awarded to Kokkinakis, who had declared; “That is so far out, it is horrendous.”

Fritz said he had never seen an incident as strange on a tennis court and pondered whether the umpire was influenced by Kokkinakis’s theatrics. The Australian, for his part, was mystified by the incident.

“I don’t even know what happened. I can’t believe the ref didn’t call that out,” he said.

“I don’t know if the person behind me was blocked by me, but I was waiting because the ball was so slow and so clearly out. And I just heard no call. And because the ball was so slow and it’s so wet, it was very tough to find marks on them.

“I was just dumbfounded and I was like, ‘Is there a replay somewhere where we can see it?’. But it was so clearly out and then the ref came down pointed at a mark that was on the line, so I was gonna like lose my marbles.”

PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 01: Taylor Fritz of United States reacts against Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia in the Men's Singles third round match during Day Seven of the 2024 French Open at Roland Garros on June 01, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

With his spirits surging, the world No. 100 played inspired tennis early in the fourth set to break his rival, only for the Californian star to retrieve the break and work to the front. But Kokkinakis is in a never-say-die mood and bounced back again to level the match.

With the crowd on Crt 14 alternating between chanting “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” and “Let’s go Kokky, Let’s go”, he set about trying to pull off his third straight five set triumph in the tournament.

Break point opportunities presented on the Fritz serve at 1-all and 2-all but on both occasions the former Indian Wells champion was able to produce an excellent point to deny his rival before making his move with an inspired game to break for 4-2.

From there, the former No. 5 held his nerve to end Kokkinakis’s brave bid for victory.