De Minaur to face Danish bolter at Wimbledon after dominant win

The Age

15 hours ago

The 2018 Wimbledon quarter-finalist is the highest-ranked player left in her quarter, but has a challenging round-of-32 test against Russian power-hitter Liudmila Samsonova, who eliminated in-form Australian Maya Joint in the first round.
'I know a lot of seeded players lost already in both draws – men's and women's – but I've got a very difficult next match,' Kasatkina said.
'[Samsonova] is super confident on grass, she's showing good results, and she's playing very good, so it's going to be a very difficult match ... last time we played in Indian Wells [in March], I lost in three sets. Here, on grass, I think she feels even more comfortable [but] I'm going to prepare well, and give my 150 per cent.'
However, it was a tough centre court initiation for another Australian, Aleks Vukic, who copped a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 hiding from world No.1 Jannik Sinner in exactly 100 minutes after saving five match points.
'Obviously, Jannik was too good today,' Vukic said.
'Him and Carlos are definitely at least two levels above everyone else, and it's pretty evident. Playing him on centre court was a great experience for me – it doesn't happen every day – so as far as the experience, it's up there with one of the best for me.
'The result wasn't amazing, but especially the atmosphere in that third set, and at least making it competitive in the third … I definitely left the court with good sensations from that.'
Australia's Rinky Hijikata saved three match points in a row, but still trailed 10th seed Ben Shelton 6-2, 7-5, 5-4 when their match was controversially suspended due to bad light, with the American to serve on Friday for a third-round berth.
Thompson's opponent was also decided, with Italy's Luciano Darderi sweeping aside British wildcard Arthur Fery in straight sets.
Up next for de Minaur is 192nd-ranked Dane August Holmgren, whose fairytale run at his maiden grand slam continued with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (8-10), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 [10-5] triumph over 21st-seeded Czech Tomas Machac across four hours and 38 minutes.
The 27-year-old qualifier, who attended the same US college – the University of San Diego – as British qualifier Oliver Tarvet, celebrated like he had won a grand slam title. He has doubled his career prizemoney this week.
Holmgren shared several emotional embraces with family, high-fived fans during a lap of court 12, and tossed a towel to one of the many Danish diehards proudly flying their national flag.
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His victory means the average ranking of de Minaur's first three opponents at Wimbledon this year is 127.
Beyond that looms a potential fourth-round showdown with Novak Djokovic, who de Minaur was supposed to play in an aborted quarter-final last year before the Australian's freak hip injury caused him to withdraw.
De Minaur found his radar on his first serve against Cazaux – hitting almost 60 per cent of them in – snatched control in the baseline rallies he was previously leaking errors on, and produced a sharp volleying performance.
He lost just four of 30 points at the net, with his trusty down-the-line backhand enabling him to not only gain a foothold in rallies, but also move into the court repeatedly.
Cazaux played at a high level in patches, but was unable to maintain it when de Minaur went up a notch, most critically in the match-defining ninth game of the third set.
The 22-year-old Frenchman recovered well from a lopsided second set, where the Australian star largely steamrolled him, to lead 4-3 on serve in the third and threaten to mount a major challenge.
A tense struggle ensued on Cazaux's next service game, with de Minaur coming out on top in a captivating rally – despite his French foe's wonderful defence – to bring up a break point, only for Cazaux to send down an ace and temporarily stave off the danger.
Cazaux failed to convert his own game point soon after, then collapsed on consecutive points that effectively decided the contest.
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He dumped a straightforward volley into the net to face another break point before double-faulting – missing by about a metre – to gift de Minaur the chance to serve out the third set. Australia's No.1 was locked in by then, and drilled an inside-out forehand winner to go two-sets-to-one up.
De Minaur had already worn Cazaux's best punch, and breezed to the end without conceding another game.
For all his early waywardness, de Minaur should be satisfied that he is moving in the right direction after an underwhelming period where he admitted to struggling with mental fatigue and had to shift his focus from being so rankings-obsessed.
Another source of inspiration was Davis Cup teammate Thompson, who again defied a back injury to win a second straight five-setter on Wednesday.
'I don't know exactly how many five-set wins or comebacks from two-sets-to-love down he's had, but it feels like six or seven already. It's amazing to see,' de Minaur said.
'He's the ultimate competitor. He might not play his best, he might not feel amazing, but something you can count on is him competing from the very first point to the last.
'That's what we, as Australians, want the standard to be, and to show, and to let the opponents from the rest of the world know that, 'Hey, if you are playing an Aussie, be ready for a battle'.'
Seven-time champion Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Iga Swiatek, Mirra Andreeva, 2022 winner Elena Rybakina, reigning champion Barbora Krejcikova and Emma Navarro were among the other winners on Thursday.
But the upsets continued, with 2017 finalist Marin Cilic sending British fourth seed Jack Draper packing in four sets, while Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sofia Kenin also exited the tournament.