Australian Aleksandar Vucic has been arrange with a dream showcourt match with champion Carlos Alcaraz on the primary day of Wimbledon.
Marathon males Vukic and Sydney's Jordan Thompson superior to the second spherical with hard-fought five-set wins, whereas Daria Saville recorded a hat-trick of first-round victories for the Australian contingent.
Thompson set the tone when he got here from two units all the way down to beat Russia's Pavel Kotov in 4 hours, six minutes to turn out to be the primary Australian to achieve the second spherical.
Vukic then claimed an exhilarating win over Austria's Sebastian Ofner in simply over 4 hours and 11 minutes to earn him a match towards Spanish champion Alcaraz on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
Vukic has crushed Alcaraz – in French Open qualifying in 2020 when Alcaraz was 17, however by no means on a Grand Slam showcourt.
“It’s going to imply quite a bit to me,” he mentioned. “It's the primary time, however hopefully not the final time I play on the largest stage. It will likely be new territory for me and I'm very excited to expertise it.”
,[Playing Alcaraz] It will likely be an enormous honour and problem for me, however it will likely be one other match by which I’ll check myself.
'I don't assume he favored me beating him up. I'm certain we each keep in mind it. However he was only a child then.'
Australian participant Aleksandar Vucic has gained his first spherical match at Wimbledon to arrange a dream conflict with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Fellow Australian Jordan Thompson displayed his typical combating spirit to win his first spherical match in 5 units
There was a standing ovation for Alcaraz on Centre Courtroom as he cruised to a simple win over Marc Lazzale. The cheers is also heard on Courtroom 7 when Vukic and Ofner have been enjoying a tie-breaker for the primary set.
As encouragement, it couldn't have been higher, though Vukic later mentioned he was so centered on the match that he didn't hear it.
Ofner gained that tie-break, however Vukic gained the essential tie-break three hours later to safe the victory 6-7 (9/11) 6-4 6-4 3-6 7-6 (10-8).
It was a topsy-turvy match with each gamers struggling to carry serve within the last set because the prize drew nearer, however Vukic took the lead within the deciding tie-break and held on to it.
After falling two units behind towards Russian debutant Kotov, it appeared as if Thompson would prolong his dismal document at Wimbledon.
The 30-year-old arrives in SW19 after reaching the Queen's Membership semi-finals however has by no means reached the second week at Wimbledon in his seven earlier makes an attempt.
World quantity 53 Kotov is a strong participant however the Australian started to check his opponent and transfer him across the courtroom.
Thompson gained 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 beneath stress from Australian supporters packed round Courtroom 10.
He’ll now face Brandon Nakashima, a repeat of final yr's first spherical, when Thompson got here again from two units all the way down to win in 5 units.
The American, nonetheless, had higher provide you with a giant win as he beat 18th seed Sebastian Baez 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in lower than two hours.
Defending champion and third seed Carlos Alcaraz defeated Marc Lazzale in straight units to achieve the second spherical, the place he’ll face Australian Aleksandar Vukic.
Australian Daria Saville celebrates after her spectacular win over American Peyton Starnes
Saville adopted Thompson to Courtroom 10 and defeated American Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-2.
It helped banish recollections of her final match at Wimbledon in 2023, when she was distracted by local weather activists invading the sphere and misplaced to Katie Boulter.
She’s going to now face 18th seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, who simply defeated Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 6-2.
It took Bolt every week to make his means by way of qualifying, however his journey to the principle draw ended earlier than Alcaraz even started his title defence on Centre Courtroom.
However Bolt may be happy with his efforts towards No. 8 seed Casper Ruud.
He took the three-time Grand Slam finalist to a first-set tie-break, then misplaced 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes.
Max Purcell, alternatively, arrived at Wimbledon buoyed by his attain on the Eastbourne Worldwide last on Saturday, however maybe the turnaround got here too shortly.
He misplaced to Otto Virtanen of Finland, ranked 79 locations decrease, 6–3, 6–2, 6–2 in simply 89 minutes.
