Aussie No.1s sidestep seeds carnage with Wimbledon wins
In perfect sunny conditions on Thursday (Friday AEST), de Minaur brushed off a woeful first set against French qualifier Arthur Cazaux before regrouping and eventually showing some signs of his best in a 4-6 6-2 6-4 6-0 victory.
Then after his fellow Sydneysider Aleksandar Vukic had been crushed by the full power of world No.1 Jannik Sinner, the other national No.1 Kasatkina came through her second-round arm wrestle with old Romanian rival Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 4-6 6-1.
So there'll be at least three Australians in the last 32, with injury-hampered Jordan Thompson having heroically made it into the third round on Wednesday - and Rinky Hijikata almost but not quite out of it on the brink of defeat to Ben Shelton when his match was controversially suspended because of the dying light.
The encouraging news for world No.11 de Minaur is he'll next be facing Denmark's August Holmgren, a qualifier ranked 181 places below him who knocked out Czech 21st seed Tomas Machac and may feel drained after the second longest match of the championships lasting four hours 38 minutes.
Fifteen of the 32 men's seeds had already fallen in the first two rounds, and 15 of the women's - and there was momentary concern both de Minaur and Kasatkina, the newest recruit for Australian tennis, might join them.
"It just shows you, this sport, it's not easy out there. Anything can happen on any given day," sighed de Minaur.
And though his victory, featuring 31 unforced errors, suggested plenty of work to be done still, he was grateful to have avoided the same second-round calamity of the French Open when beaten by Alexander Bublik.
De Minaur had never been knocked out of a grand slam by anyone as lowly ranked as No.115 Cazaux, but alarm bells rang once the fluid server from Montpellier took advantage of de Minaur's absent-minded start on a packed No.2 Court.
But urged on at courtside by his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, de Minaur stirred, nearly doubled his first-serve percentage of 33 per cent to 63 per cent and swept to level the set scores.
Cazaux's spirit was broken after de Minaur's late break in the second, and 'Demon' felt freed to play his best tennis of the tournament so far, feeding the dispirited Frenchman a 41-minute 'bagel' set.
His next opponent Holmgren will have to recover from a marathon in which he finally kayoed Machac 7-6 (7-5) 6-8 (8-10) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-5).
Kasatkina, the 16th seed, has beaten 34-year-old Begu more times than she's defeated any other player, so it looked a perfect draw as she swept through the first set, only for the veteran to uncork some laser shotmaking in the second.
But, though occasionally venting her frustration to her courtside team about an uneven performance, Kasatkina recovered her poise, earned an early break in the decider and then reeled off the final four games to book a much more challenging third-round encounter with 18th seed Liudmila Samsonova, who's already knocked out star teenage Australian Maya Joint.
"I prefer this fire and getting this anger than when I don't feel the energy at all. So sometimes I was screaming to the box and stuff, but that's important, it gives you energy," Kasatkina said.
Sydneysider Vukic gave Carlos Alcaraz a few worries last year on No.1 Court but his latest big-match date on Centre proved a bloodless affair as he was taken apart by Sinner 6-1 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 40 minutes, with his most notable resistance emerging at the death when he saved five match points.
"I feel like I'm in a boxing ring and just have to go back out there," sighed the "pummelled" Vukic.
In near-darkness at 9.30pm, there was still general amazement when the chair umpire told Shelton he was suspending the No.2 Court contest against Hijikata just as the dominant American 10th seed was leading 6-2 7-5 5-4 and about to step out to serve for the match.
Shelton was outraged, understandably complaining, while Hijikata, equally understandably, zoomed off court before minds could be changed. The match will be resumed on Friday.
Earlier, Australia's Olympic men's doubles champions, 15th seeds John Peers and Matt Ebden, bowed out in the opening round, losing 6-3 6-4 to Czech pair Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl.
Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina, Australia's biggest Wimbledon hopes, have been left relieved to avoid joining the legion of seeds who've already been scattered at this shock-laden Wimbledon as they battled into the third round.
In perfect sunny conditions on Thursday (Friday AEST), de Minaur brushed off a woeful first set against French qualifier Arthur Cazaux before regrouping and eventually showing some signs of his best in a 4-6 6-2 6-4 6-0 victory.
Then after his fellow Sydneysider Aleksandar Vukic had been crushed by the full power of world No.1 Jannik Sinner, the other national No.1 Kasatkina came through her second-round arm wrestle with old Romanian rival Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 4-6 6-1.
So there'll be at least three Australians in the last 32, with injury-hampered Jordan Thompson having heroically made it into the third round on Wednesday - and Rinky Hijikata almost but not quite out of it on the brink of defeat to Ben Shelton when his match was controversially suspended because of the dying light.
The encouraging news for world No.11 de Minaur is he'll next be facing Denmark's August Holmgren, a qualifier ranked 181 places below him who knocked out Czech 21st seed Tomas Machac and may feel drained after the second longest match of the championships lasting four hours 38 minutes.
Fifteen of the 32 men's seeds had already fallen in the first two rounds, and 15 of the women's - and there was momentary concern both de Minaur and Kasatkina, the newest recruit for Australian tennis, might join them.
"It just shows you, this sport, it's not easy out there. Anything can happen on any given day," sighed de Minaur.
And though his victory, featuring 31 unforced errors, suggested plenty of work to be done still, he was grateful to have avoided the same second-round calamity of the French Open when beaten by Alexander Bublik.
De Minaur had never been knocked out of a grand slam by anyone as lowly ranked as No.115 Cazaux, but alarm bells rang once the fluid server from Montpellier took advantage of de Minaur's absent-minded start on a packed No.2 Court.
But urged on at courtside by his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, de Minaur stirred, nearly doubled his first-serve percentage of 33 per cent to 63 per cent and swept to level the set scores.
Cazaux's spirit was broken after de Minaur's late break in the second, and 'Demon' felt freed to play his best tennis of the tournament so far, feeding the dispirited Frenchman a 41-minute 'bagel' set.
His next opponent Holmgren will have to recover from a marathon in which he finally kayoed Machac 7-6 (7-5) 6-8 (8-10) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-5).
Kasatkina, the 16th seed, has beaten 34-year-old Begu more times than she's defeated any other player, so it looked a perfect draw as she swept through the first set, only for the veteran to uncork some laser shotmaking in the second.
But, though occasionally venting her frustration to her courtside team about an uneven performance, Kasatkina recovered her poise, earned an early break in the decider and then reeled off the final four games to book a much more challenging third-round encounter with 18th seed Liudmila Samsonova, who's already knocked out star teenage Australian Maya Joint.
"I prefer this fire and getting this anger than when I don't feel the energy at all. So sometimes I was screaming to the box and stuff, but that's important, it gives you energy," Kasatkina said.
Sydneysider Vukic gave Carlos Alcaraz a few worries last year on No.1 Court but his latest big-match date on Centre proved a bloodless affair as he was taken apart by Sinner 6-1 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 40 minutes, with his most notable resistance emerging at the death when he saved five match points.
"I feel like I'm in a boxing ring and just have to go back out there," sighed the "pummelled" Vukic.
In near-darkness at 9.30pm, there was still general amazement when the chair umpire told Shelton he was suspending the No.2 Court contest against Hijikata just as the dominant American 10th seed was leading 6-2 7-5 5-4 and about to step out to serve for the match.
Shelton was outraged, understandably complaining, while Hijikata, equally understandably, zoomed off court before minds could be changed. The match will be resumed on Friday.
Earlier, Australia's Olympic men's doubles champions, 15th seeds John Peers and Matt Ebden, bowed out in the opening round, losing 6-3 6-4 to Czech pair Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl.
Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina, Australia's biggest Wimbledon hopes, have been left relieved to avoid joining the legion of seeds who've already been scattered at this shock-laden Wimbledon as they battled into the third round.
In perfect sunny conditions on Thursday (Friday AEST), de Minaur brushed off a woeful first set against French qualifier Arthur Cazaux before regrouping and eventually showing some signs of his best in a 4-6 6-2 6-4 6-0 victory.
Then after his fellow Sydneysider Aleksandar Vukic had been crushed by the full power of world No.1 Jannik Sinner, the other national No.1 Kasatkina came through her second-round arm wrestle with old Romanian rival Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 4-6 6-1.
So there'll be at least three Australians in the last 32, with injury-hampered Jordan Thompson having heroically made it into the third round on Wednesday - and Rinky Hijikata almost but not quite out of it on the brink of defeat to Ben Shelton when his match was controversially suspended because of the dying light.
The encouraging news for world No.11 de Minaur is he'll next be facing Denmark's August Holmgren, a qualifier ranked 181 places below him who knocked out Czech 21st seed Tomas Machac and may feel drained after the second longest match of the championships lasting four hours 38 minutes.
Fifteen of the 32 men's seeds had already fallen in the first two rounds, and 15 of the women's - and there was momentary concern both de Minaur and Kasatkina, the newest recruit for Australian tennis, might join them.
"It just shows you, this sport, it's not easy out there. Anything can happen on any given day," sighed de Minaur.
And though his victory, featuring 31 unforced errors, suggested plenty of work to be done still, he was grateful to have avoided the same second-round calamity of the French Open when beaten by Alexander Bublik.
De Minaur had never been knocked out of a grand slam by anyone as lowly ranked as No.115 Cazaux, but alarm bells rang once the fluid server from Montpellier took advantage of de Minaur's absent-minded start on a packed No.2 Court.
But urged on at courtside by his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, de Minaur stirred, nearly doubled his first-serve percentage of 33 per cent to 63 per cent and swept to level the set scores.
Cazaux's spirit was broken after de Minaur's late break in the second, and 'Demon' felt freed to play his best tennis of the tournament so far, feeding the dispirited Frenchman a 41-minute 'bagel' set.
His next opponent Holmgren will have to recover from a marathon in which he finally kayoed Machac 7-6 (7-5) 6-8 (8-10) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-5).
Kasatkina, the 16th seed, has beaten 34-year-old Begu more times than she's defeated any other player, so it looked a perfect draw as she swept through the first set, only for the veteran to uncork some laser shotmaking in the second.
But, though occasionally venting her frustration to her courtside team about an uneven performance, Kasatkina recovered her poise, earned an early break in the decider and then reeled off the final four games to book a much more challenging third-round encounter with 18th seed Liudmila Samsonova, who's already knocked out star teenage Australian Maya Joint.
"I prefer this fire and getting this anger than when I don't feel the energy at all. So sometimes I was screaming to the box and stuff, but that's important, it gives you energy," Kasatkina said.
Sydneysider Vukic gave Carlos Alcaraz a few worries last year on No.1 Court but his latest big-match date on Centre proved a bloodless affair as he was taken apart by Sinner 6-1 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 40 minutes, with his most notable resistance emerging at the death when he saved five match points.
"I feel like I'm in a boxing ring and just have to go back out there," sighed the "pummelled" Vukic.
In near-darkness at 9.30pm, there was still general amazement when the chair umpire told Shelton he was suspending the No.2 Court contest against Hijikata just as the dominant American 10th seed was leading 6-2 7-5 5-4 and about to step out to serve for the match.
Shelton was outraged, understandably complaining, while Hijikata, equally understandably, zoomed off court before minds could be changed. The match will be resumed on Friday.
Earlier, Australia's Olympic men's doubles champions, 15th seeds John Peers and Matt Ebden, bowed out in the opening round, losing 6-3 6-4 to Czech pair Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl.
Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina, Australia's biggest Wimbledon hopes, have been left relieved to avoid joining the legion of seeds who've already been scattered at this shock-laden Wimbledon as they battled into the third round.
In perfect sunny conditions on Thursday (Friday AEST), de Minaur brushed off a woeful first set against French qualifier Arthur Cazaux before regrouping and eventually showing some signs of his best in a 4-6 6-2 6-4 6-0 victory.
Then after his fellow Sydneysider Aleksandar Vukic had been crushed by the full power of world No.1 Jannik Sinner, the other national No.1 Kasatkina came through her second-round arm wrestle with old Romanian rival Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 4-6 6-1.
So there'll be at least three Australians in the last 32, with injury-hampered Jordan Thompson having heroically made it into the third round on Wednesday - and Rinky Hijikata almost but not quite out of it on the brink of defeat to Ben Shelton when his match was controversially suspended because of the dying light.
The encouraging news for world No.11 de Minaur is he'll next be facing Denmark's August Holmgren, a qualifier ranked 181 places below him who knocked out Czech 21st seed Tomas Machac and may feel drained after the second longest match of the championships lasting four hours 38 minutes.
Fifteen of the 32 men's seeds had already fallen in the first two rounds, and 15 of the women's - and there was momentary concern both de Minaur and Kasatkina, the newest recruit for Australian tennis, might join them.
"It just shows you, this sport, it's not easy out there. Anything can happen on any given day," sighed de Minaur.
And though his victory, featuring 31 unforced errors, suggested plenty of work to be done still, he was grateful to have avoided the same second-round calamity of the French Open when beaten by Alexander Bublik.
De Minaur had never been knocked out of a grand slam by anyone as lowly ranked as No.115 Cazaux, but alarm bells rang once the fluid server from Montpellier took advantage of de Minaur's absent-minded start on a packed No.2 Court.
But urged on at courtside by his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, de Minaur stirred, nearly doubled his first-serve percentage of 33 per cent to 63 per cent and swept to level the set scores.
Cazaux's spirit was broken after de Minaur's late break in the second, and 'Demon' felt freed to play his best tennis of the tournament so far, feeding the dispirited Frenchman a 41-minute 'bagel' set.
His next opponent Holmgren will have to recover from a marathon in which he finally kayoed Machac 7-6 (7-5) 6-8 (8-10) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-5).
Kasatkina, the 16th seed, has beaten 34-year-old Begu more times than she's defeated any other player, so it looked a perfect draw as she swept through the first set, only for the veteran to uncork some laser shotmaking in the second.
But, though occasionally venting her frustration to her courtside team about an uneven performance, Kasatkina recovered her poise, earned an early break in the decider and then reeled off the final four games to book a much more challenging third-round encounter with 18th seed Liudmila Samsonova, who's already knocked out star teenage Australian Maya Joint.
"I prefer this fire and getting this anger than when I don't feel the energy at all. So sometimes I was screaming to the box and stuff, but that's important, it gives you energy," Kasatkina said.
Sydneysider Vukic gave Carlos Alcaraz a few worries last year on No.1 Court but his latest big-match date on Centre proved a bloodless affair as he was taken apart by Sinner 6-1 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 40 minutes, with his most notable resistance emerging at the death when he saved five match points.
"I feel like I'm in a boxing ring and just have to go back out there," sighed the "pummelled" Vukic.
In near-darkness at 9.30pm, there was still general amazement when the chair umpire told Shelton he was suspending the No.2 Court contest against Hijikata just as the dominant American 10th seed was leading 6-2 7-5 5-4 and about to step out to serve for the match.
Shelton was outraged, understandably complaining, while Hijikata, equally understandably, zoomed off court before minds could be changed. The match will be resumed on Friday.
Earlier, Australia's Olympic men's doubles champions, 15th seeds John Peers and Matt Ebden, bowed out in the opening round, losing 6-3 6-4 to Czech pair Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl.
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Carlos Alcaraz has survived a "stressful" afternoon, coping with a barrage of booming serves from veteran German powerhhouse Jan-Lennard Struff to take his unbeaten streak to 21 matches and keep his Wimbledon hat-trick ambitions on course. The Spanish champion knew all about the danger of the 35-year-old Struff, having been knocked out of the 2021 French Open by him when he was an emerging star and then also getting stretched by the towering German over five sets at the following year's Wimbledon. And the same old problems emerged again on Friday when, after Alcaraz had eased through the first set, Struff, who blasted down 13 aces in all, responded brilliantly to clinch the crucial break for 5-3 before levelling the match. But Alcaraz, who'd also had a serious workout from another veteran, Fabio Fognini, over five sets in the opening round, once again found another gear to prevail 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4 in two hours and 25 minutes. "I knew it was going to be really difficult and I had to be focused on every shot," said the 22-year-old. "His game suits the grass, big serves, coming to the net, so I'm pleased with everything I did today. Proud to get the win in four sets. "To be honest I was suffering in every service game I did. Lots of break points down. It was stressful," added Alcaraz, who set up a last-16 date with 14th seed Andrey Rublev, who eased past veteran French leftie Adrian Mannarino 7-5 6-2 6-3. Taylor Fritz, who had already negotiated two marathon five-setters over three days to reach the third round, needed another three hours and 12 minutes to get past Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Yet though his workload has been massive and he's had issues with his knee, he reckons he's actually feeling stronger as each match goes by as he gets ready to face Australian Jordan Thompson, four-set victor over Luciano Darderi, in the last-16. It was the end of the road for Brazil's rising teenage star Joao Fonseca, who couldn't keep his legion of noisy fans happy after losing to the resurgent Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who secured a fourth-round meeting with Britain's Cameron Norrie after a 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-4) victory on a raucous No.2 Court. The home fans, fed up after the exit of their big men's hope Jack Draper on Thursday, still have Norrie, their 2022 semi-finalist, to cheer after the last British man standing beat Italy's Mattia Bellucci 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-3. A surprising face in the last-16 draw will be Poland's world 109 Kamil Majchrzak, who beat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6) and will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who finally beat Portugal's Nuno Borges in a match tiebreak 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 4-6 6-3 7-6 (10-8). Carlos Alcaraz has survived a "stressful" afternoon, coping with a barrage of booming serves from veteran German powerhhouse Jan-Lennard Struff to take his unbeaten streak to 21 matches and keep his Wimbledon hat-trick ambitions on course. The Spanish champion knew all about the danger of the 35-year-old Struff, having been knocked out of the 2021 French Open by him when he was an emerging star and then also getting stretched by the towering German over five sets at the following year's Wimbledon. And the same old problems emerged again on Friday when, after Alcaraz had eased through the first set, Struff, who blasted down 13 aces in all, responded brilliantly to clinch the crucial break for 5-3 before levelling the match. But Alcaraz, who'd also had a serious workout from another veteran, Fabio Fognini, over five sets in the opening round, once again found another gear to prevail 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4 in two hours and 25 minutes. "I knew it was going to be really difficult and I had to be focused on every shot," said the 22-year-old. "His game suits the grass, big serves, coming to the net, so I'm pleased with everything I did today. Proud to get the win in four sets. "To be honest I was suffering in every service game I did. Lots of break points down. It was stressful," added Alcaraz, who set up a last-16 date with 14th seed Andrey Rublev, who eased past veteran French leftie Adrian Mannarino 7-5 6-2 6-3. Taylor Fritz, who had already negotiated two marathon five-setters over three days to reach the third round, needed another three hours and 12 minutes to get past Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Yet though his workload has been massive and he's had issues with his knee, he reckons he's actually feeling stronger as each match goes by as he gets ready to face Australian Jordan Thompson, four-set victor over Luciano Darderi, in the last-16. It was the end of the road for Brazil's rising teenage star Joao Fonseca, who couldn't keep his legion of noisy fans happy after losing to the resurgent Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who secured a fourth-round meeting with Britain's Cameron Norrie after a 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-4) victory on a raucous No.2 Court. The home fans, fed up after the exit of their big men's hope Jack Draper on Thursday, still have Norrie, their 2022 semi-finalist, to cheer after the last British man standing beat Italy's Mattia Bellucci 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-3. A surprising face in the last-16 draw will be Poland's world 109 Kamil Majchrzak, who beat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6) and will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who finally beat Portugal's Nuno Borges in a match tiebreak 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 4-6 6-3 7-6 (10-8). Carlos Alcaraz has survived a "stressful" afternoon, coping with a barrage of booming serves from veteran German powerhhouse Jan-Lennard Struff to take his unbeaten streak to 21 matches and keep his Wimbledon hat-trick ambitions on course. The Spanish champion knew all about the danger of the 35-year-old Struff, having been knocked out of the 2021 French Open by him when he was an emerging star and then also getting stretched by the towering German over five sets at the following year's Wimbledon. And the same old problems emerged again on Friday when, after Alcaraz had eased through the first set, Struff, who blasted down 13 aces in all, responded brilliantly to clinch the crucial break for 5-3 before levelling the match. But Alcaraz, who'd also had a serious workout from another veteran, Fabio Fognini, over five sets in the opening round, once again found another gear to prevail 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4 in two hours and 25 minutes. "I knew it was going to be really difficult and I had to be focused on every shot," said the 22-year-old. "His game suits the grass, big serves, coming to the net, so I'm pleased with everything I did today. Proud to get the win in four sets. "To be honest I was suffering in every service game I did. Lots of break points down. It was stressful," added Alcaraz, who set up a last-16 date with 14th seed Andrey Rublev, who eased past veteran French leftie Adrian Mannarino 7-5 6-2 6-3. Taylor Fritz, who had already negotiated two marathon five-setters over three days to reach the third round, needed another three hours and 12 minutes to get past Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Yet though his workload has been massive and he's had issues with his knee, he reckons he's actually feeling stronger as each match goes by as he gets ready to face Australian Jordan Thompson, four-set victor over Luciano Darderi, in the last-16. It was the end of the road for Brazil's rising teenage star Joao Fonseca, who couldn't keep his legion of noisy fans happy after losing to the resurgent Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who secured a fourth-round meeting with Britain's Cameron Norrie after a 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-4) victory on a raucous No.2 Court. The home fans, fed up after the exit of their big men's hope Jack Draper on Thursday, still have Norrie, their 2022 semi-finalist, to cheer after the last British man standing beat Italy's Mattia Bellucci 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-3. A surprising face in the last-16 draw will be Poland's world 109 Kamil Majchrzak, who beat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6) and will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who finally beat Portugal's Nuno Borges in a match tiebreak 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 4-6 6-3 7-6 (10-8).
