Alex de Minaur and Thanasi Kokkinakis, the main man and the marathon man, have dispelled the gloom in the Australian tennis ranks with gloriously contrasting victories on a long, rain-interrupted day at the French Open.
First, de Minaur hung around for five hours waiting to get on court before handing out a lesson on the wet clay to American teen tyro Alex Michelsen, beating him 6-1 6-0 6-2 to break the Aussie win drought in virtuoso style.
But that swift demolition job was only the support act before Thanasi Kokkinakis earned a remarkable see-saw five-set triumph - 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 5-7 6-3 - over his good friend and stablemate Alexei Popyrin in the all-Aussie 'popcorn match' that concluded under lights in front of a packed outside-court crowd.
