Grass not greener: Aussie tennis men rolled in Rosmalen

Yahoo

a day ago

Alex de Minaur decided not to defend his trophy at the annual pre-Wimbledon tournament in the Dutch town of Rosmalen -- and in his absence, his compatriots have so far been unable to muster a decent attempt to keep the trophy in Australia.
'Demon' decided to take a break from the start of the grasscourt campaign, still reeling and feeling somewhat fatigued after his clay-court campaign had ended in hugely deflating fashion in the second round of the French Open.
But while he grabbed his much-needed break, the No.1's Aussie colleagues have ploughed on, believing that their fortunes would change once the grass courts hove into view after the claycourt slog.
Pure DRAMA 😯Gabriel Diallo saves two match points to defeat Thompson 4-6 6-1 7-5 and reaches his third tour-level quarter-final! @LibemaOpen | #LibemaOpen pic.twitter.com/cp6sHpsvfj
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 11, 2025
Sixth seed Jordan Thompson, Rinky Hijikata and Chris O'Connell all expressed their delight at transferring to the green stuff, but their title bids were quickly ended on Wednesday.
Thompson, an accomplished grasscourt performer whose body has been beaten up over a tough season, had won his opening-round contest on Monday against American Aleksandar Kovacevic but lost out in the last-16 from a set up and despite having held two match points against Canada's Gabriel Diallo 4-6 6-1 7-5.
Thompson, a two-time finalist in the event, had his chance when holding match points on return at 5-4 in the final set, but Diallo kept his nerve to win 13 of the final 16 points and seal victory in two hours eight minutes.
"I played some really good tennis, he's a very tricky opponent on the grass, it's a surface that suits him well," said Diallo.
"I knew I had to be really sharp. I came really close to losing on my serve but I managed to come up with some good points and carry that momentum."
Hijikata was also a set up against British stalwart Dan Evans before eventually succumbing 3-6 6-4 6-3, while world No.80 O'Connell found French veteran Adrian Manarino too much to cope with on the grass as the world No.127 prevailed 6-1 6-3.
The triple defeat meant that Australian hopes now rest solely with Alexei Popyrin, the last Aussie man standing at Roland Garros whoi had a first-round bye but will face Belgian Zizou Bergs in the last-16 on Thursday.