Millman muscles up
AUSTRALIAN tennis battler John Millman will play for a $320,000 jackpot and likely prime-time shot at Roger Federer after continuing his blazing US Open run yesterday.
Our last men’s hope backed up his upset of Nick Kyrgios with a 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 dismissal of Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri to make the last 32 in New York for the first time.
It has given Millman the chance of a lifetime as he continues his latest comeback from career-saving surgery. Only unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber stands in the way of a place in the second week of a major.
“I’d rather play him than Rafa,” Millman, 28, said before trying to cash in on an 11thhour draw reshuffle.
The late withdrawal of world No.2 Andy Murray forced a rejig of the bottom half of the draw, with Kohlschreiber taking the spot of 17th-seeded Wimbledon semi-finalist Sam Querrey. Millman won’t take the German lightly, but having hit with Querrey in London and seeing him storm through his first two rounds here, Millman knows the tennis gods have smiled on him.
Millman has guaranteed himself $181,000, already doubling his season earnings. Beat- ing Kohlschreiber would earn him $319,752 – and a crack at Federer if the 19-time grand slam champion can back up from successive five-setters to stop Feliciano Lopez.
Contesting the slam on an injury-protected ranking after adding a groin operation to two shoulder reconstructions, Millman is ranked No.235.
He will soar at least 60 spots as he bids to become the lowest-ranked player since 1985 to make the last 16 in New York.
“It does feel more rewarding when you’ve had your struggles with your body,” he said.
“It’s probably taken me longer to crack it at this level. I’ve done the hard yards through the Futures tours, through the Challengers tour. It’s taken me a long time.
“There were tournaments in the middle of nowhere where I kind of questioned whether I really wanted it.
“But it helps me appreciate these moments each day, because it’s not every day you’re playing the US Open or you’re playing a Wimbledon.”
With Kyrgios under a fitness cloud, Thanasi Kokkinakis losing in the first round and Jordan Thompson exiting in the second, Millman is giving Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt food for thought ahead of the upcoming semi-final in Belgium.