Demon delight: Aussie No.1 into Wimbledon last-16
Ian Chadband |
Alex de Minaur’s Wimbledon dream remains on track after Australia’s big hope ended the fairytale of Danish qualifier August Holmgren in straight sets.
But while the men’s No.1 eventually stamped his quality to overcome the lowest-ranked player left in the men’s draw 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in the third round, his female counterpart Daria Kasatkina bowed out tamely, beaten, somewhat ironically, by former Russian teammate Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 6-3.
The mixed fortunes of the two national No.1s on Saturday means only de Minaur and the battling Jordan Thompson are left among the original 17-strong green-and-gold singles contingent.
But both Aussies will be left with daunting tasks to get to the quarter-finals with Thompson playing fifth seed Taylor Fritz on Sunday and de Minaur possibly tasked with tackling seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, who was in fourth-round action later on Saturday against Serbian compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic.
“Today was a very, very tough match. All credit to August, he put up a hell of a match so I’m happy to make it to the second week of Wimbledon again,” de Minaur told the No.2 Court crowd..
The No.11 seed may have been a bit worried about the drama of tackling little-known world No.192 Holmgren, a US university graduate in theatre arts and performance studies who serves big, attacks boldly and whose run has been like something compatriot Hans Christian Andersen might have penned.
The Dane had saved three match points in his final qualifier and three more in the second round of the Championships when knocking out 21st seed Tomas Machac, and armed with a serve that delivered 61 aces throughout the Championships, he played with real swagger.
De Minaur applied most of the pressure throughout but was still impressed with how Holmgren kept coming up with “clutch tennis”.
‘Demon’ broke just the once in the opener at 4-4 and the prospect of Holmgren levelling up in the second was very much alive as they contested a tight second-set tiebreak until de Minaur got lucky with a serve that kicked up off the chalk to earn set point and Holmgren then produced a deflating double fault.
Somewhat relieved, de Minaur looked to have got his man, and another double from Holmgren gave him the key break for 4-2 before he went on to seal victory in two hours 21 minutes.
Kasatkina’s dream of a barnstorming run in her first Wimbledon in Australian colours was shattered as she delivered a flat display against the big-hitting 19th seed Samsonova, who had been her teammate in Russia’s Billie Jean King Cup-winning outfit in 2021, in a rain-interrupted affair.
It was a fairly tame and deflating end to the seven-strong Australian women’s challenge at Wimbledon, with 16th seed Kasatkina having hoped to rekindle some of the form that dragged her to the quarter-final at the grass-court slam back in 2018.
But having complained of a dip in form as she faced new pressures following her switch of allegiance from Russia to Australia in March, Kasatkina really looked out of sorts and couldn’t conjure up any real resistance to 19th seed Samsonova in a one-sided affair.
The rising 26-year-old Samsonova, who had already outgunned the other big Australian hope, teenage flyer Maya Joint, in the opening round, had simply far too much firepower for Kasatkina, whose defensive skills couldn’t prevent the barrage of 22 winners that flew past her.
Seeking to become the first Australian woman into the fourth round since Ajla Tomljanovic three years ago, Kasatkina was outgunned comprehensively in the first set.
She looked as if she might have earned a reprieve when rain brought a two-hour halt at 2-0 down in the second, but on resumption Samsonova still had too many weapons to win in just over an hour-and-a-quarter.
“Of course, I think I could do better on my side, but I also have to give her credit, she played a very, very good match,” said Kasatkina.
“I don’t think that I did many things wrong, but most of the time, whatever she was doing was successful.”
AAP
