London: Australian title hope Alex de Minaur has breezed into the third round at Wimbledon without dropping a set for the second time in his career.
Facing a rematch of his recent s’Hertogenbosch semi-final win, the No.5 seed was patchy at times and hit seven double faults, but mostly had little trouble dispatching Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
De Minaur was on and off the court inside two hours, which was helpful on a steamy London day.
He now awaits the winner between American Zachary Svadja and Pole Kamil Majchrzak, who beat him in the s’Hertogenbosch final.
“I’m super stoked [to make it through … I definitely think I started better [than in the first round], and had more intent and more conviction in what I needed to do. I also knew how dangerous Adrian is,” de Minaur said.
“We’ve played each other many times, and I think we both hate playing each other … as you guys saw, there was not a lot of net clearance, not a lot of topspin, and a lot of flat, low shots.
“I’m going to have to get some treatment on my back from reaching down so much.”
De Minaur’s first serve got him out of a lot of trouble – winning 80 per cent of them, hitting seven aces, and many more unreturned – and he made more of them as the match wore on.
Mannarino’s awkward game meant it was difficult for de Minaur to find rhythm at times, but it was apparent early in the contest that the Australian had the wily veteran’s measure.
That said, de Minaur still offered Mannarino 11 break points, and the Frenchman converted only two of them, so he will need to continue to improve as the tournament progresses.
But the numbers told the story of the match: the 2024 quarter-finalist blasted 20 winners to Mannarino’s eight, on top of committing 10 fewer unforced errors.
