Wimbledon: Ash Barty and Nick Kyrgios enjoy second round wins

Australians triumph with Ash Barty and Nick Kyrgios spearheading second round wins for compatriots James Duckworth, Jordan Thompson, and Alja Tomljanovic.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia plays a forehand during his men's singles second round match against Gianluca Mager of Italy during Day Four of The Championships - Wimbledon 2021.

Australian tennis players are “pumped” but “pretty tired”, after a golden Thursday at Wimbledon saw Ash Barty and Nick Kyrgios spearhead second round victories for compatriots James Duckworth, Jordan Thompson, and Alja Tomljanovic.

“Maybe it’s a stroke of luck that everyone’s clicking this year, and it’s great - maybe we can make it more of a habit and get used to seeing a lot of Aussies in the third round and further on,’’ said Tomljanovic.

Kyrgios, playing on outside court three, overcame the Italian big server Gianluca Mager 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 with a disciplined display. His only major complaint to the umpire was being picked up for a foot fault, and his response was to fire down a second serve, an ace, at 215km/h.

Then after winning the first set tie break he stomped his feet in celebration, thumped his chest and jigged around the court. By the end of the match, as the large numbers of Australian supporters sang Kyrgios’ name, he cheekily told the umpire “I can’t give you a hug” (because of the covid restrictions).

But Kyrgios again complained about the slowness of the courts, accusing organisers of adjusting the grass “obviously for TV purposes”.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia celebrates match point during his men's singles second round match against Gianluca Mager of Italy.

James Duckworth of Australia during his men's singles second round match against Sam Querrey of USA.

He said: “I’m hitting 136 miles an hour, like, serves. Back in the day, unreturnable. Now Mager is lacing return winners off my first serve. It shouldn’t be happening.

“I think they’ve done it obviously for TV purposes. It’s nice to see rallies on the grass. It’s nice to see Djokovic gracing the court with his rallies.

“But grass court tennis is serve and volley. It’s the roots of the tennis game … You should be having rallies on clay, not rallies on grass courts. Now you’re having rallies nearly every point.

“I know they’re not going to change it. Players are just going to have to adapt, but that’s just what it is.”

Earlier 29-year-old Sydneysider James Duckworth clocked a phenomenal serve of 233km/h in his demolition of another noted big server American Sam Querry, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Duckworth said he didn’t know that his serve was more than 10km/h faster than anybody else at Wimbledon so far.

“That’s pretty cool, he said’’ when told of the statistic. “My fastest previously was a 232 (km/h serve).’’

Duckworth said he was ‘“super thrilled’’ to be in the third round.

Around the same time Jordan Thompson won his three-hour match against the highly rated Kei Nishikori of Japan, 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Jordan Thompson of Australia plays a forehand during his men's singles second round match against Kei Nishikori of Japan during Day Four of Wimbledon 2021.

Thompson said: “Walking onto the court yesterday I had never won a match at Wimbledon and then today (I win) and I’m in the third round. I played one of the better matches I have played in my career so things change quickly and fall into place.”

Thompson, 27, said he doesn’t get too down on himself - citing a five match losing streak on clay recently.

“My head doesn’t get too big either,” he said.

“I know that I’m not going to blast people off the court. I need to relay on my movement and I need to serve well, return, and well, I need to do everything well to win so every day is a different challenge. Hopefully I can just keep it up in the next round.”

Thompson, from Sydney, said the Australian contingent hadn’t had much time together, despite all of the players being housed in the one central London hotel - although he had dinner with Kyrgios on Wednesday evening.

“I saw Ducks (Duckworth, after our matches) and we were pretty happy for each other, we’re pretty pumped, we didn’t speak a whole lot, just about the pace of the courts and our matches for about two minutes,” he said.

“Everyone is pretty pretty tired amongst the oldies.

“I know Ducks is pretty happy with himself, I’m also happy for him, and I am happy for myself too.”

Alja Tomljanovic. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

Tomljanovic fought hard to win her first set against Alize Cornet of France, 6-4, but after being broken early in the second set she said “I couldn’t recover mentally, and she was playing well’’, losing the set 0-6. Her Italian boyfriend Matteo Berrettini turned up, breaking their usual superstition not to watch each other if they are playing on the same day.

“When he saw me lose the second set he was like ok, I think she needs a bit more energy and he’s pretty loud from the sidelines, so it definitely helped,’’ Tomljanvoic said, taking the third 6-3.

Tomljanovic said being in the bubble made for long days travelling to and from the courts and it was ‘’a little full on”.

Ash Barty also triumphed on centre court, winning her match against Russian Anna Blinkova in straight sets.

Two other Australians were in action on Thursday with Marc Polmans losing to 17 seed Cristian Garin 7-6, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 and Alex Bolt lost to Briton, Cameron Norrie in straight sets.

“He made me feel like the court was so small that I had to try and come up with some incredible point,’’ said Bolt.