Tennis: Australia’s Alex de Minaur beats Reilly Opelka to continue love affair at Queen’s Club

Two resurgent Australian stars have reclaimed top-100 rankings as the country’s top player makes a statement on a London grass-court.

Alex de Minaur maintained his perfect record against American Reilly Opelka at the Queen’s Club Championships. Picture: Getty Images

Alex de Minaur is off to a strong start at The Queen’s Club Championships as he looks to at least match his semi-final run last year at the traditional Wimbledon lead-in event.

The 23-year-old extended his perfect record against eighth-seeded Reilly Opelka to five matches, easing past the 211cm American 6-4 6-4 to win his first grass-court contest of the season.

Australia’s de Minaur absorbed six Opelka aces to break him once in each set without conceding his own serve, putting last week’s early exit at ‘s-Hertogenbosch behind him.

He will next play junior peer Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets.

Alex de Minaur defied a significant height disadvantage to eliminate Reilly Opelka at The Queen’s Club Championships. Picture: Getty Images

The Queen’s Club draw is suddenly wide open, with Opelka joining fellow seeds Taylor Fritz and Cameron Norrie on the scrap heap.

But the defending champion and man who ended 21st-ranked de Minaur’s title hopes last year, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, is again on the Australian’s side of the draw and fresh from winning last week’s Stuttgart Open.

In Berlin, Australian qualifier Daria Saville outlasted Jil Teichmann 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-2 to ensure she will be end an almost three-year stint riddled with foot-related injuries outside the top 100.

Saville is likely to meet Greek second seed Maria Sakkari in round 2, while Nick Kyrgios is set to face Germany’s Daniel Altmaier as the sole Aussie in the Halle draw.

Nick Kyrgios is always a strong performer during the grass-court swing. Picture: Getty Images

Kyrgios, who made the Stuttgart semi-finals, will almost certainly take on Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas if he accounts for Altmaier.

Elsewhere, 21-year-old Rinky Hijikata qualified for the Ilkley Challenger main draw but last week’s Nottingham semi-finalist Alexei Popyrin fell short.

Hijikata will face in-form countryman Jordan Thompson in round 2 if they can beat their respective first-up opponents, Andreas Seppi and Nuno Borges.

John Millman and Jason Kubler, who returned to the top 100 this week, are also in the Ilkey men’s draw, while Priscilla Hon qualified for the women’s event, but Alexandra Osborne lost a match tie-break heartbreaker.

Thompson’s hot streak ends in Nottingham final

Jordan Thompson’s perfect start to the grass-court season and bid for back-to-back titles ended in the Nottingham final but he remains thrilled with his form ahead of Wimbledon.

The third-seeded Sydneysider, who was as high as No.43 in the world, sent down eight aces before losing 6-4 6-4 to No.1 seed Dan Evans in a match lasting almost two hours.

Fellow Australian Jason Kubler, who, like Thompson, was gunning for consecutive Challenger titles, retired from the Orlando Open final with stomach issues while trailing China’s Yibing Wu 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 3-1.

But Kubler, who qualified for this year’s French Open, is projected to return to the top 100 for the first time in almost four years, although his rankings surge came too late for him to make the Wimbledon main draw.

Thompson eliminated countryman Alexei Popyrin in the semi-finals on Sunday for his ninth-straight win after lifting the Surbiton Trophy title last week.

Great Britain’s Dan Evans edged out Australian Jordan Thompson in the Nottingham’s singles final. Picture: Getty Images

He had to play catch up in both sets against Evans, recovering breaks on each occasion, only to concede serve immediately to hand back the decisive advantage.

“I’ve had a couple of great weeks on the grass, taking the title in Surbiton last week and a runner’s-up trophy today, so I couldn’t be happier with the form,” Thompson said.

“I could have gone a little bit better today but you can’t be too greedy.

“Well done to Dan. He played a great match and plays great on the grass. It was an extremely tough match and it was a bit of a reality check today – (he was) too good.”

A third Australian, Jaimee Fourlis, did capture two titles in a row, conceding only 25 games in winning the lower-tier hard-court event in Madrid, including a 6-4 6-2 final defeat of Spain’s Maristany Zuleta De Reales Guiomar.

Fourlis, 22, has climbed almost 150 spots in the WTA rankings this year to No.182 and will attempt to qualify next week for Wimbledon.

There were mixed results for Australians at the WTA 500 tournament at Berlin, where Daria Saville secured a main draw spot but Storm Sanders bowed out.

Saville, playing in Sanders’ spare shoes after losing her own, ousted former world No.12 Sabine Lisicki 6-0 7-6 (11-9) to set up a first-round shot at Jil Teichmann, of Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Chris O’Connell fell one win short of the Halle main draw, going down 6-4 6-4 to Switzerland’s Marc-Andrea Huesler, while Maddison Inglis lost in three sets to Catherine McNally in Birmingham.

Popyrin and Rinky Hijikata are one victory away from joining Thompson, John Millman and Kubler in the Ilkley Trophy main draw.

Originally published as Tennis: Australia’s Alex de Minaur beats Reilly Opelka to continue love affair at Queen’s Club