Alex De Minaur exits Wimbledon in round one at the hands of Sebastian Korda
De Minaur #DeMinaur
Australia’s Alex De Minaur has been sent packing in the first round of Wimbledon by rising American star Sebastian Korda.
Korda, the 20-year-old son of 1998 Australian Open winner Petr, dismissed the Australian — who had just won his first grasscourt title at Eastbourne — 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5).
The powerful American youngster once again looked like one of the very best prospects in the game as he took the match out of de Minaur’s fighting hands with searing groundstrokes that brought him 41 winners.
De Minaur though was full of fight and his resilience came to the fore as he took the third set in a tie-break as Korda faltered on the forehand.
That pattern looked like it may continue and as the fourth set went deeper the unforced errors came off that wing again for Korda.
De Minaur then managed to stave off two match points in the fourth set tie-break before he sent a backhand wide from the return of serve to give Korda a big first round victory.
With the loss De Minaur joins an early exodus of seeded men’s players with French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, American Reilly Opelka, Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili all falling in round one.
More to come.