Britain’s Jack Draper came through a titanic tussle in four hours and thirty-five minutes against home hope Thanasi Kokkinakis – who failed to serve for the match in the fourth – in five gruelling sets 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 and now faces another Australian in Aleksandar Vukic in round three.
“That was a really tough match, Thanasi is an unbelievable player, someone who I have great respect for, every time I play him, he brings his best tennis and especially here in Australia he’s so dangerous. I’m really proud of the way I competed today and I eventually came through, I’m very happy about that.
The partisan crowd got behind their man and cheered every thumping winner, but went too far in trying to disrupt Draper’s service action – and even clapped on missed first serves – and were regularly reminded to remain quiet by the umpire.
But instead of allowing himself to be negatively affected, Draper used the electric energy on the infamous John Cain Arena – which has an open bar on one side of the court where spectators can regularly top up beers – to find the extra gear and by the end of the match was looking fresher than when he started.
“This is what I play for since I was a young guy, I wanted to play in front of big crowds and whether you guys are with me or against me it was a tough atmosphere to deal with. You guys were obviously all with Thanasi but I had a little fun as well. It was so good to be out here and really happy with the amount of support we get here at these big tournaments, it’s unbelievable.”
In an extremely physical match up with intense rallies covering every inch of the court, it was Kokkinakis who held all the aces and had the chance to serve out the match, but just like in their 2023 Davis Cup encounter, he could not see it through. Draper thanked his opponent, who came into the match carrying injuries and hurt his shoulder again in the fourth set which hampered his service speeds in the fifth.
“Credit to him I think he was hurting quite a lot and obviously he pulled out last week [tournament] and had a really long match in his first match. He came out here and he gave it his all until the end, he obviously was hurting but credit to him, it was a great fight today.”
Draper’s preparations before this event have not been ideal and has left him feeling out of rhythm. However, his unforced error count dramatically improved from 88 to 30 in his second successive five setter at the opening Grand Slam of the year and he firmly believes he is improving:
“I didn’t play for a few weeks in the off-season, I was on the side lines not really playing so I didn’t know if I was going to be fit to come here. I know that my tennis is improving, this match would have really helped me again. My first match was four hours, I don’t want to be out here for that long but I’m getting better with each set and I’m really proud with the way I’m going about my tennis.”
There was more good news for British tennis as Jacob Fearnley reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career with a 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-3 win over Arthur Cazaux and now goes on to face second seed Alexander Zverev.
Fearnley started slowly and dropped the first set after several rain delays, but he continued to hold serve in the second and took a 6-5 lead to apply some scoreboard pressure to his French opponent – who double faulted and then threw in an unforced error. A forehand winner by Fearnley brought up three set points and he took his second opportunity to level the match.
The 23-year-old – who’s ranking will rocket from 92 currently – then opened up a 3-0 lead in the third to take control of proceedings and began to relax into his game flashing forehand winners from all sides. Cazaux double faulted at set point down to concede the third, and in the fourth Fearnley broke serve first to open up a 4-1 lead and did not look back – and now guarantees himself AUS $290,000 in prize money.
