He lost, but finally something to celebrate about Australian tennis

TENNIS in this country has endured years of bad press, with a string of brash young players who promised so much and delivered so little. But this year’s US Open in New York has thrown up names such as Ashleigh Barty, John Millman, Matthew Ebden and — yesterday — Alex de Minaur, a 19year-old player of the future who pushed seventh seed Marin Cilic all the way before losing in the fifth set.

CROATIAN Marin Cilic has ended Alex de Minaur’s US Open run with an epic thirdround comeback win over Australia’s teenage excitement machine.

Champion in New York in 2014, Cilic denied de Minaur a place in the last 16 with a gripping 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory in a midnight thriller in Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Like two prize-fighters, Cilic and de Minaur traded savage blows for exactly four hours in a baseline slugfest that started just before 10.30pm and finished at 2.22am.

Runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon last year and again at the 2018 Australian Open, Cilic was finally the last man standing after mounting a ferocious fightback.

First he trailed by two sets to love, then the seventh seed rallied from a service break down in the deciding fifth set before finally delivering the knockout punch to leave John Millman to fly the Australian flag in the men’s singles.

With Nick Kyrgios licking his wounds after a straight-sets mauling from Federer earlier, de Minaur had been bidding to join Millman in the second week of a grand slam for the first time.

Not since Lleyton Hewitt beat Pete Sampras in the 2001 final and two-time champion Pat Rafter made the fourth round had two Australians ventured so deep in the Flushing Meadows draw.

Alas, de Minaur fell a set short after a valiant display of scrambling and relentless counter-attack in the face of Cilic’s awesome firepower.

Refusing to yield, de Minaur heroically saved five match points in a brutal eighth game of the fifth set to make Cilic serve it out at 5-3.

He was unable to, with de Minaur fending off another match point to break back and then level the set at 5-5.

But the Croat finally prevailed on his seventh match point to seal a famous win and a fourth-round date tomorrow with Belgian 10th seed David Goffin.