Wimbledon 2023: Alex de Minaur spearheads Aussie trio through to second round

Australia’s best hope Alex de Minaur fired off a succession of aces to win a fourth set tie break.

Alex de Minaur celebrates winning match point against Kimmer Coppejans of Begium in the Men's Singles first round match. Picture: Getty Images.

Australia’s best hope at Wimbledon, Alex de Minaur fired off a succession of aces to win a fourth set tie break and survive a tough rain affected opening match.

He spearheaded a trio of Australian men to progress through to the second round, with both Jason Kubler and Chris O’Connell finishing first round rain affected matches by Thursday afternoon.

Kubler had a torrid match against Frenchman Humbert 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 while O’Connell resumed play losing a third set but wrapping up his match against Hamad Medjedovic, of Serbia, 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

De Minaur finished off the Belgian qualifier Kimmer Coppejans after the second resumption of play on Thursday, but the manner of the 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 victory may give pause to the Sydneysider’s hopes of a deep run in the Championship.

“I had to lift my level to play some of my best tennis to get through today,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had to finish a match over two days, to be honest, so this is something new for me. I mean, I’ll take it like a very solid practice session today. That’s how I look at it. I’ll be ready to go back again tomorrow and ready for however long it may take.”

De Minaur was uncharacteristically hesitant and engaged in long baseline rallies with Coppejans, and was lucky that the Belgian, having constructed many fine points, would tighten up and flay a final hit too deep.

Alex de Minaur plays a forehand against Kimmer Coppejans of Begium. Picture: Getty Images.

De Minaur at one stage was up 4-2, but allowed the Belgian to then go 5-3 up in the hour long topsy turvy fourth set. At that point the umpire warned de Minaur for swearing in Spanish.

“To be honest, I deserved that. I was a bit on edge and, you know, I just didn’t think,” he said.

De Minaur, ranked 14th would have been expected to easily dismiss Coppejans, who is 188th in the world and only scraped through to Wimbledon by virtue of the qualifying tournament.

But the hard hitting match may have given De Minaur, 24, a wake up call for his next clash with 2021 Wimbledon finalist Italian Matteo Berretini.

Said De Minaur of Berretini: “He’s obviously a very dangerous player who has played some great tennis here. He’s got a massive serve (and a) massive forehand, a great slice. So a very tricky, tricky opponent. He is one of those … unseeded guys that you probably didn’t want in your section.

“But hey, I knew this coming in. I knew I had a tough section. So I’m looking forward to the battle. Should be fun.”

Earlier Aleksander Vukic was beaten in his second round match against big serving Frenchman Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in 1hr 29min.

He attributed a lack of sharpness to his failure to practice because of rain in London on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Still Vukic will now move to a career high ranking in the low 80s at the completion of Wimbledon.

O’Connell faces Czech Jiri Vesely in the next round. “He’s unbelievable on the grass, especially here. He’s had some great consistent results over the years, so it’s going to be a really tough match,” O’Connell said.

He said he feels confident after strong form in Stuttgart recently.

“I knew I was capable of winning a round here, winning rounds. He was obviously in good form, a young Serbian guy, and he had nothing to lose. But I knew if I played good grass court tennis, that I was going to win.”