Alex de Minaur has survived an unlikely challenge in his Wimbledon opener – barely dodging a fifth set in the process – to advance in the tournament’s most difficult section of the draw.
Australia’s top-ranked player came from a set down and staved off three set points in the fourth to oust Belgian qualifier Kimmer Coppejans 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in a match carried over from a day earlier.
Alex De Minaur celebrates winning match point against Belgium’s Kimmer Coppejans.Credit: Getty Images
Coppejans’ misfiring forehand let him down just as he seemed likely to force a deciding set, with de Minaur pouncing on his 178th-ranked opponent’s vulnerability to book a clash with 2021 finalist Matteo Berrettini.
De Minaur was one of three Australians to progress to the second round on Thursday night, with Chris O’Connell and Jason Kubler also coming through matches that began on Wednesday. However, Aleks Vukic failed in his bid to reach the third round at a slam for the first time, losing 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 to Frenchman Quentin Halys.
The Coppejans clash was supposed to be a gentle start to 15th-seeded de Minaur’s Wimbledon campaign, and he was racing to the finish line when play was suspended after the third set the previous day due to fading light.
De Minaur surged 4-2 ahead in the fourth set on resumption, only for the Belgian to sprung to life as some tentativeness cost the Sydneysider dearly. Coppejans peeled off three straight games, including two breaks, then went 40-15 ahead before stumbling with a fifth set in sight.
Belgium’s Kimmer Coppejans returns to Australia’s Alex de Minaur.Credit: AP
The Australian makes no secret of his ambition to gatecrash the world’s top 10, but has never been beyond the fourth round at a grand slam – going closest to a quarter-final at Wimbledon last year, when he lost from two sets up against Cristian Garin.
The draw gods did de Minaur no favour this year, with Berrettini, who won their only previous grass-court encounter in a Queen’s semi-final two years ago, as difficult a second-round rival as he could meet.
If he negotiates Berrettini, then former world No.2 Alex Zverev is his probable next hurdle to make the last 16, where top seed Carlos Alcaraz will almost certainly be waiting, after winning the Queen’s final over him less than a fortnight ago.
Berrettini has tumbled out of the top 10, in large part because of injury, including missing three months last year after undergoing hand surgery then withdrawing from Wimbledon after contracting COVID-19.
But the world No.38 has always thrived on the grass, and his huge serve and forehand make him a nightmare proposition for de Minaur, who will need to be at his scurrying best.
O’Connell also reached the second round at a qualifier’s expense, escaping a potentially dicey situation to defeat Serbian teenager Hamad Medjedovic 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
O’Connell had his right ankle taped after dropping the third set, but reeled off the final three games of the match to book a date with Czech Jiri Vesely, who upset American No.22 seed Seb Korda in four sets.
Kubler, who reached the last 16 in a career-best run at the 2022 event, eventually progressed as well, eliminating tricky Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in a contest lasting more than 3 ½ hours.
They are the last Australians standing, after Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic withdrew before the tournament started, then Storm Hunter, Daria Saville, Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Max Purcell and Vukic departed.
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