It took six deuces, four break points staved off and then three match points, but Alex de Minaur eventually battled his way past Liam Broady after a epic final game as Britain’s singles represenation at Wimbledon was halved on Saturday.
After Katie Boulter made a rapid exit at the hands of Harmony Tan earlier in the morning, Liam Broady’s run also came to an end, albeit in far more gritty fashion, as De Minaur proved too good for a Brit on Court 1 for the second time in three days.
The 23-year-old knocked Jack Draper out to set up a clash with Broady and, aside from when tightening up towards the end of the third set, never looked like following girlfriend Boulter out of the tournament, as he secured a deserved 6-3 6-4 7-5 win.
As Diego Schwartzman found out earlier this week when beaten by Broady in five sets, the Brit is not one for accepting his fate, even as the lights increasingly dim on his Wimbledon campaign. The 28-year-old briefly threatened to play his way back into it, inspired by a late racquet change.
“I sent a racquet off to get it done a couple of pounds tighter,” Broady said.
“The first couple sets I felt like the ball was flying off my strings a bit. The racquet only came back once I was a break down in the third. I brought it out and I just felt a lot more comfortable playing. I felt like the ball was doing what I was trying to tell it to do. The change was probably a little bit too late.”
The result leaves Cam Norrie and Heather Watson flying the British flag going into the fourth round, with both in action on Sunday.
De Minaur was so impressive on Thursday night when powering his way past Draper under the Court 1 roof and he wasted little time in making himself at home once more, sending down a couple of aces in an opening hold to love.
In his first ever third-round appearance at a Grand Slam, Broady settled well too but a break of serve in the sixth game of the match proved costly for the Brit. A powerful forehand brought up three break points for De Minaur and the Australian had all he needed at 4-2 when a Broady slice drifted wide. Two comfortable holds later and the 19th seed was on his way.
Broady had to grind out a battling hold early in the second set, seeing off three break points before a timely ace moved him 2-1 up and kept it on serve. He could only hold off De Minaur for so long though and Broady was broken in his next service game, the Australian converting the break point with a sublime lob.
By now comfortable holds were a thing of the past for Broady and he found himself having to fend off three break points once more. To his credit he was up to the task, scrambling around the court to keep himself in the set at 4-3, though still needing to find a break himself.
That didn’t come though as although Broady asked De Minaur to serve it out, again the answer was a resounding one as the Australian took the set 6-4.
The Brit was broken in the opening game of the third set as De Minaur continued his serene progress, but the first bumps in the road started to appear. De Minaur had to save a first break point before eventually holding, as a Broady lob landed just beyond the baseline, before another chance came and went in the Australian’s next service game.
De Minaur stepped up to serve for the match at 5-4 and for the first time all afternoon the nerves were evident. His forehand became wild and the Court 1 roar would have been heard all around SW19 as Broady got it back on serve. A hold in the next and he would have been guaranteed at least a tie-break, but instead Broady found himself back at the bottom of the mountain, a difficult volley sent into the net giving De Minaur a second chance to get the job done.
What followed was a breathless game, taking almost 15 minutes, as Broady had four chances to take it to a tie-break. None were taken and on his third match point, De Minaur’s first serve returned just in time to see him through to the second week of Wimbledon for the first time.
