John Millman serves up career best at Wimbledon

John Millman is on track to produce the best Wimbledon of his career after a dominant win over Laslo Djere last night.

Australia's John Millman reacts after winning a point against Serbia's Laslo Djere. Picture: AP

John Millman is on track to produce the best Wimbledon of his career after a dominant win over 31st seed Laslo Djere last night.

The 30-year-old became the first Australian man to reach the third round when dismantling the Serbian 6-3 6-2 6-1, with the victory built on the strong resistance he showed early.

Just minutes after Wimbledon officials stripped Bernard Tomic of the entirety of his prize money — $82,000 — for failing to try in a lacklustre opening round loss, Millman and Australian No 1 Alex de Minaur stepped on to court. It would be fair to say it is unlikely an accusation of failing to “perform to the required professional standard” will ever be levelled at the pair.

The contrast of their endeavour on court yesterday and when training is in stark contrast to that shown by the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, who does have the right to appeal the fine.

Millman arguably spent more effort holding his opening two service games than Tomic spent in the entirety of the 58 minutes he was on court against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

And de Minaur did all he could to counter the power of tough American veteran Steve Johnson but eventually went down 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3 3-6 6-3.

The Australian was delighted at being able to extend his stay in London until at least tomorrow.

“(It was) really good. (I’m) delighted with that. Obviously it’s a special place to

play, Wimbledon,” he said.

“So any opportunity (that you get) to extend your stay, you have to try to take and

really happy with the way I went about business today.”

The 30-year-old believes he has further improvement in him ahead of the clash with Querrey.

“I still think I can hit the ball a bit better, but I was moving great today,” he said.

“The body felt really good, I returned really well and stuck to a game plan that we had going into that match.

“So it was one of those matches where I made it physical. I brought a really good intensity and (that is) something that I’ve made a career of doing and executed really well today.”

Millman has reached the third round once before at Wimbledon in 2016 and will be seeking to reach the last 16 for the first time when he faces former semi-finalist Sam Querrey.

Only one spot separates the pair, who have never met, on current rankings.

While the American, who reached a final in Eastbourne last week, has a powerful serve and forehand, Millman will fancy his chances given the form he has displayed to date. He also claimed his first-round match against Hugo Dellien without dropping a set, though his performance against Djere was a step up, with his serve more decisive once he worked through the tough opening.

Querrey certainly has superior grass court credentials to the ­Brisbane-resident’s opening two rivals.

He defeated French Open ­finalist Dominic Thiem in this opening encounter and then crunched Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-2 6-3, so Millman will need to be at his best.

The next couple of months will be important for the world No 64 given the points he has to defend for reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open last September.

A decent run at the All England Club would provide a buffer from which he could attack the North American swing with verve.

And it was his ability to hold firm, despite being thoroughly tested throughout his opening four service games against Djere, that proved critical. With the support of some vocal Australian fans on Court 18, the Davis Cup representative was able to seize a critical break for a 5-3 lead and proceeded to take the opening set.

His consistency from the baseline, supreme court coverage and intensity in general proved too much for Djere, who became increasingly dispirited.

The Australian was able to gain a stranglehold on the match when breaking twice in the second set, in what was a classy performance lasting just over two hours.