Alexei Popyrin’s bold bid to defeat Novak Djokovic on his centre court debut at Wimbledon has fallen short, leaving a “lucky” Alex de Minaur to fly the Australian flag.
A gallant four-set display against the 24-time grand slam champion at the Australian Open in January fuelled hope Popyrin could cause a huge upset and went into overdrive once he raced to a one-set lead on Saturday.
Alexei Popyrin pushed grand slam great Novak Djokovic in an entertaining four-set match.Credit: AP
But Djokovic’s fightback coincided with the retractable roof closing at the end of the opening set, as he snatched control then withstood a tense fourth set before completing a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory.
De Minaur received an injury-enforced walkover against France’s Lucas Pouille (abdominal injury) at the start of Saturday’s play, and will again be Australia’s sole representative in the second week at a grand slam.
“I’m feeling a little bit bummed, but I’m close. I feel very close. It’s just a matter of one, two points in important moments,” Popyrin said.
“He was quite solid. I played a few loose points in the tiebreak, and that’s all it took for him to take charge. He served really well when he was in tough situations … I was kind of in his service games in the fourth, but he served his way out of it a lot of the time.
“I’ve done it twice [challenged Djokovic], and I’ve had chances both times. The first time could be a fluke, but the second time, I came out feeling really comfortable in the first set, and until I had break points in the second set early on.
“It was all on my racquet until that point, then I kind of let my foot off the pedal a little bit and lost focus.”
Popyrin seemed in danger of falling away after a largely dominant middle two sets from the former world No.1, but impressively lifted again to force a fourth-set tiebreak and electrify a captivated crowd after escaping from 0-40 at five-all.
But the tiebreaker quickly got away from him. They both hit 19 aces for the match, but Djokovic lost only nine points on his first serve for the match in a supreme performance.
Djokovic was relieved to get the win over Popyrin.Credit: AP
Popyrin is yet to advance further than the third round at any major, but his mature display against Djokovic was a strong sign he is closing the gap to the world’s elite.
It was an entertaining atmosphere even off the court, from a champagne cork loudly hitting the roof and interrupting play after the second point, to a mid-match celebration from the locals after England secured a penalty shootout win over Switzerland at the Euros.
Djokovic and Popyrin both realised what had happened and playfully enjoyed the moment, with the Serbian taking an imaginary penalty kick while the Australian served as goalkeeper.
Asked if he saved Djokovic’s penalty, Popyrin quipped: “Probably not, the way he was serving.”
Djokovic has won 37 of his past 38 matches on the All England club’s grasscourts, and looks a genuine threat to win an eighth title in London, exactly one month after knee surgery.
His come-from-behind triumph avoided him following Polish top seed Iga Swiatek out of the tournament after Yulia Putintseva threw the women’s title race into chaos with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 triumph. Coco Gauff, 2022 champion Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini are the only top-10 seeds left.
It is a continuation of Swiatek’s comparatively wretched Wimbledon record despite her being the WTA Tour’s clear best player. The five-time major champion’s quarter-final effort last year remains her deepest run.
Meanwhile, de Minaur hailed Pouille’s “class act” of telling him about his abdominal issue two hours before they were due to play.
He is now one win from his first Wimbledon quarter-final, which would propel him three places to a career-high live ranking of No.6, and ever closer to the top-five goal he shared with this masthead in March this year.
Pouille, who is on the comeback trail from elbow surgery, sought treatment for an abdominal issue after the first set in the last round against Thanasi Kokkinakis, but was leading 2-6, 7-5, 5-2 when the big South Australian pulled out with a left knee injury.
The 212th-ranked Frenchman qualified for this year’s tournament but reached the quarter-finals in 2016 and was ranked as high as No.10 six years ago.
Djokovic, who faces Holger Rune next, looms as de Minaur’s likely last-eight opponent if he can avenge a defeat to Arthur Fils on Barcelona’s clay from April.
Alex de Minaur is through to the fourth round at Wimbledon for the second time.Credit: AP
The French up-and-comer followed his upset of seventh-seeded Hubert Hurkacz with a 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Russian Roman Safiullin, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year.
“Over previous years, I do feel like the first week of a slam is about doing anything you can to stay alive, then once you’re able to get through that first week, I feel like it’s a completely new tournament,” de Minaur said.
“It’s when everything starts to click, you start to feel more comfortable with the conditions, the atmosphere, the balls, your tennis, your game itself. It’s when you’ve got to bring your A-game because you’re getting to the deep end of these tournaments, playing the best players in the world.
“This is where I’ve wanted to be. I used to do really well in the lower-ranked tournaments, the 250s, and I’ve always wanted to take the next step, and … going deep at grand slams is definitely part of the journey, so getting to the second week is a great start, and I’m looking forward to hopefully pushing for more.”
De Minaur’s only previous fourth-round appearance at the grasscourt major two years ago ended in a heartbreaking defeat from two sets and match point up against Cristian Garin.
But he has improved greatly since then and reached the Roland-Garros quarter-finals for the first time last month amid what is comfortably his career-best season.
De Minaur spent extra time on court and running in the gym once the Pouille news filtered through, but was unconcerned about potentially not being battle-hardened enough.
In other news, Kokkinakis’ strength-and-conditioning coach, Jona Segal, confirmed to this masthead that the South Australian appears to have dodged a serious knee injury and is on track to return ahead of the US Open.
He slipped on the grass during his second-round match against Pouille, with his right foot sliding out before his left leg crumbled underneath him – but the prognosis is relatively good.
“Thanasi looks to have a moderate grade MCL [medial collateral ligament] sprain that should see him back in time for most, if not all, of the US hardcourt swing [from late July],” Segal said.
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Kokkinakis first sprained the MCL in the same knee in a fall on Surbiton’s grass two years ago, but also had a pre-Wimbledon scare when he hurt himself in similar fashion at Queen’s Club.
Marc McGowan is at Wimbledon with the support of Tennis Australia.
Watch Wimbledon 2024 from July 1 live and exclusively free on Nine and 9Now with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand with centre court in 4K on Stan Sport.
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