Draper train derailed by De Minaur
ALEX DE MINAUR made it a golden day for Wimbledon’s newest power couple as he outlasted Britain’s Jack Draper, with girlfriend Katie Boulter watching on from the stands.
But the Australian No 19 seed had to use all his street-fighting abilities to hold off the barrage from Draper long enough for his superior fitness to pay off.
The 20-year-old Draper has long been considered the brightest men’s talent in British tennis but the quality of his play in the first half of this match still came as a surprise. He looked exhausted by the end as he went down 5-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3.
It felt a little like Andy Murray’s five-set loss to David Nalbandian in 2005, when the Scottish teenager’s e talent could not be matched by his cramping body. If Draper can replicate even a scrap of the glories g which followed that match, he h will have a fine career indeed.
‘ I can take a lot of positives,’ p said Draper (right). ‘There’s also a lot of things I need to improve. The main thing t is physicality.
‘ It’s not rocket science. s It takes time to be able to come to the Grand Slams and compete c for long matches back to back.
I’ve got a lot to work on. That’s not such a bad thing. It’s just going to take time.’
At 4-3 in the opening set there was a brief shower and as the roof closed thousands of fans spilled on to Court 1, including Boulter, fresh off her upset of Karolina Pliskova next door on Centre.
De Minaur is a high-class player with lightning feet and metronomic consistency; Lleyton Hewitt was in his support box last night and there is a little of the former Wimbledon champion about the 23-year-old’s game.
Yet as the first set progressed, Draper outgunned him. Perhaps more impressively, he stayed with him in the longer rallies that ought to have favoured the Aussie.
At 5-5, Draper made his attack on the De Minaur serve. His southpaw forehand has shades of Rafael Nadal about it in the way it can be either ripped with vicious topspin or flattened out.
One running passing shot slapped down the line to go 30-0 up on the De Minaur serve was right out of the Spaniard’s playbook. Draper broke from there and served the set out 7-5.
The pattern of the match continued into the second set, with Draper dictating. Boulter was nervously biting her lip in his support box as De Minaur clung on, saving five break points while not laying a glove on the Draper serve.
Draper admitted in Surbiton last week that his body was not yet ready for five- set combat. With that in mind, the second- set tiebreak felt crucial to his chances of victory. But De Minaur snuffed out his hopes by winning it to love, Draper resorting to a desperate underarm serve at 6-0 down. From there Draper began to tire while De Minaur’s quicksilver feet got even faster. He looked shattered by the end as the Australian cantered home.
Afterwards, De Minaur was keen to heap praise on his girlfriend Boulter. ‘What she was able to do today was an amazing effort,’ he said. ‘She beat last year’s runnerup, on Centre. I think that’s pretty special. I’m very proud of her.’
The Australian will now meet another Brit — Liam Broady, who yesterday beat 12th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 4-6, 0-6, 7-6, 6-1 on Court 3.
It wasn’t expected, especially as Broady lost 11 games in a row midway through the match. ‘I had you all fooled,’ joked the 28-year-old in his court-side interview.