Chris O’Connell is the last man standing at Wimbledon

Survivor Chris O’Connell will be spared the intensity of yet another Australian-England rivalry when he plays an American, not a local Brit, in a third-round match on Saturday.

Chris O’Connell said he feels confident about the strategies to deploy in his next match. Picture: Instagram

Australian tennis player Chris “I used to be a wicketkeeper” O’Connell has been spared the intensity of a quasi Wimbledon Ashes test when he faces, not a local Brit, but the American Christopher Eubanks in a third-round match on Saturday.

But Australia’s highest ranked hope, Alex de Minaur, was bundled out of Wimbledon by resurgent big-serving Matteo Berrettini in a dominant fashion 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

The shock defeat saw de Minaur, a recent finalist at Queen’s Club, utterly despairing that the Italian had left him in “a pretty bad situation to be in’’.

A third Australian, Jason Kubler, was outstretched by Chilean number 25 seed Nicolas Jarry, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

The day belonged to O’Connell, the last man or woman left of the Australian contingent in Wimbledon after dispatching the left-handed Czech player Jim Vesely in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in an emphatic second fashion match – and boosting his ranking points to edge closer to the aim of being inside the top 50.

Soon after the win O’Connell was mentally preparing for what would have been a feisty matchup against number 12 seed and local hero Cameron Norrie over the weekend, but Norrie then later lost his match against lower seeded Chris Eubanks in four sets.

The Norrie loss meant O’Connell’s match may not now be on a show court, and the anticipation of yet another Australian-England rivalry of the summer, extending to the grass courts, would now not happen.

Before knowing his opponent, O’Connell had fully supported Alex Carey and the Australian team’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow in the first test, declaring that when a youngster on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, “I used to be a wicketkeeper, I was always chucking it at the stumps’’.

O’Connell said he had a little experience in Australia of a big and loud crowd, but acknowledged the British support here in London for an Australian may be very different.

“But then I experienced playing (Alexander) Zverev in Munich this year with a packed house, he was the big favourite and I did well there …. I have never experienced it here, so it should be interesting, it will be fun.“

O’Connell is a self-admitted late developer, and his progression through the ranks had been steady, if not spectacular, up until the lost years of Covid-19 and then an ankle injury.

“But in a way I still feel very young and just a lot of tennis still to be played,’’ he said.

To continue his tennis dream, O’Connell held down a succession of odd jobs, from cleaning boats, to delivering flyers, to working at a clothes shop to conducting some tennis coaching.

O’Connell said that having cracked the top 106 in the world ranking had made a big difference because it meant he didn’t always have to go through qualifying for a lot of events, meaning he was fresh for when a tournament started.

Chris O’Connell is a self-admitted late developer, and his progression through the ranks had been steady. Picture: Instagram

But he credits his success here on the SW19 grass to a change in approach. No longer does he peruse the draw and line up his potential opponents for coming matches.

O’Connell, 29, said: “I was just thinking too many things, so this time around I changed my approach and was just focusing solely on the match at hand. After I won my first round I had no idea who I was playing next’’

He said he feels confident about the strategies to deploy in his next match having beaten Eubanks, 27, from Atlanta, at the Busan Challenger tournament last year.

O’Connell says he has been focusing on the points on offer for each competition win, not even looking at the lucrative prize money of $200,000 he has already won here.

“This time last year top 100 was a huge goal of mine, so to be sitting here a year later, looking at getting close to the top, is awesome.’

O’Connell has been sharing a house with his schoolboy rival, Jordan Thompson, and before the start of the championships Thompson predicted O’Connell would be the one Australian to do particularly well.

Meanwhile, de Minaur will be now concentrating on the mixed doubles competition, teaming up with his British girlfriend Katie Boulter. He said of his singles defeat that Berrettini “came with his weapons”.

He added: “It’s one of those matches where he‘s got the ability to swing. When he’s feeling it like that on serve, then on return he’s got opportunities to just have a swing. And if he laces a couple, then all of a sudden he gets a break and I just genuinely wasn’t able to get enough returns back or make him play enough, get into enough rallies.

“I had two, three chances in the whole match, but it felt like I was facing first serves throughout the whole match. It was pretty tough.”

De Minaur said this loss “will obviously sit with me for a while”, reflecting that as his ranking has improved his opponents have appeared to be much tougher, not easier.

Berrettini said he had been sad to have missed last year’s championship through injury and had come back this year wanting to play a few good points.

“That‘s why I’m really happy. I’m really glad. I know it’s third round, but it feels like way more.”