Wimbledon deja vu for gritty Saville
THERE is pressure and then is Grand Slam qualifying pressure, as South Australian Luke Saville will attest.
For the second year in a row, Saville saved a match point at 6-7 in a fourth-set tiebreak to reach the Wimbledon main draw.
Struck by a chilling occurrence of deja vu, Saville’s palpable relief at advancing owed as much to the nature of a fabulous win as an external factor.
Hours before he overhauled Italian Luca Vanni 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 in 3hr 32min, Saville shared a video call with his mother, Judy.
“I was face-timing my Mum this morning and she said if I win she was going to come over,” Saville chuckled.
“So it probably wasn’t the smartest thing her telling me that. She says she’s already made plans, rough flight bookings. So I reckon she’ll be doing that right now.”
Saville, 21, revived memories of a spectacular five-set success last year over Switzerland’s Yann Marti, who was also denied by the gritty baseliner after holding match point.
“This is an unbelievable feeling. Did it last year but in difference circumstances.
Saville’s victory, coupled with John Millman and John-Patrick Smith’s triumphs, boosted Australia’s main draw representation to 16 – highest in 20 years.
Millman, 26, overcame a sluggish start to overwhelm Frenchman Enzo Couacaud 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 before Smith, also 26, put Czech Jan Mertl to the sword 6-1, 7-5, 6-2.
The trio join Bernard Tomic, Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Sam Groth, James Duckworth, Marinko Matosevic, Lleyton Hewitt and Matt Ebden in the main draw.
Australia have five women in singles contention – Sam Stosur, Casey Dellacqua, Jarmila Gajdosova, Daria Gavrilova and Ajla Tomljanovic.