Alex de Minaur leads the charge as Aussies recover from disastrous opening day at Wimbledon

Daily Mail​

21 hours ago

Australia's Wimbledon challenge has been reinvigorated after a disastrous opening day with the national No.1s Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina leading a four-win revival.
On another sweltering day in London on Tuesday, the pair raced into the second round by early afternoon and were joined by Aleksandar Vukic and Rinky Hijikata.
Seven Australians had lost in Monday's calamitous start with only an injured Jordan Thompson battling through, but there'll now be five in the last-64 draw.
Sixteenth seed Kasatkina became the first and only one of the seven Aussie women to progress with her 7-5 6-3 victory over Colombian Emiliana Arango.
Beaten in three matches on grass this season, she laboured against the world No.76, revealing she'd been so nervous in her first Wimbledon appearance since switching allegiance to Australia that she vomited outside just before entering court 14.
'A lot of people saw it five metres from the court. I vomit, so just before entering the court, yes, the little accident happened, like, completely out of nerves,' she explained.
She dished up 11 double faults and 38 unforced errors against the world No.76, but the South American contributed to her own defeat, making 39 errors of her own.
De Minaur was far more authoritative in his first grand slam outing since taking a break after his shock second-round exit at the French Open, beating Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-2) in two hours 25 minutes.
Even a delay while an unwell ball boy was replaced, just before he was to serve to stay in the third set at 5-6, didn't faze the 11th seed.
De Minaur's form was sharp enough, given his lack of match practice on grass.
'It felt like a very solid match against a tough competitor, and there was a little bit of everything. There was some really good tennis, some tough moments, which I played through,' said de Minaur, thrilled to have his family watching from courtside.
'At the end I had to lift my level when I needed it and played some clutch tennis to finish it off. So overall, quite happy.'
The chances of an all-Sydney second-round meeting were extinguished, though, after Adam Walton, having battled back from two sets down, lost 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 to Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, who'll be facing de Minaur for the first time.
Vukic beat Chinese Taipei's Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-3 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-5) in just over three hours, setting up a daunting meeting with world No.1 Jannik Sinner who defeated compatriot Luca Nardi 6-4 6-3 6-0.
It will be the second year running Vukic has drawn a big gun in the last-64 after impressing while losing to champion Carlos Alcaraz in 2024.
'I've really nothing to lose,' said Vukic. 'He'll be the one feeling the pressure. If there's a surface to play him on it's probably this one because it is a bit more random, so more upsets can happen. Hopefully, I can be one of those.'
Sinner agreed that 'he has has nothing to lose, things won't be easy for me', while adding: 'Australian tennis is in a good spot, they have some good players.'
Hijikata made surprisingly easy progress against veteran David Goffin, brushing aside the 34-year-old Belgian 6-3 6-1 6-1 after temperatures had dropped in the evening.
Next he'll face Ben Shelton, the American 10th seed who proved a younger, superior mirror image of Alex Bolt, defeating the Murray Bridge qualifier 6-4 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-4).
Beyond Kasatkina's win, it was a chastening day for the Australian women's challenge, with the biggest disappointment being 19-year-old new Eastbourne champion Maya Joint's fairly routine 6-3 6-2 defeat to a teak tough first-round opponent, Russian 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova.
It was deja vu for Joint who had won the Morocco Open in Rabat the weekend before losing in the first round at Roland Garros.
'It's something I hope to get used to, but it was a lot different from the last time when I was coming from Morocco,' the teenager said. 'I obviously expected to do a bit better but Liudmila played really well.'
Priscilla Hon went down 6-2 7-5 to Russian 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova while fellow debutant, Sydney's James McCabe, was well beaten 6-1 6-4 6-3 by Hungary's world No.58, Fabian Marozsan, after he'd arrived later than he had hoped for his match after his car had got stuck in a traffic jam.