Thanasi Kokkinakis has stunned world No 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur has made a successful comeback from injury to crown another red-letter day for Australia’s tennis stars at the US Open in New York.
Fan favourite Kokkinakis received a standing ovation on The Grandstand after upsetting dual grand slam runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 7-5 on day three. Incredibly, Kokkinakis’s fighting four-set triumph over Tsitsipas was only his second victory at the Open in nine injury-plagued years.
“A massive relief,” Kokkinakis said of the best grand slam win of his career. “Super happy, super pumped. It’s been well documented I’ve had some tight ones, but I’m starting to get on the winning side of them now.”
De Minaur fired up when it mattered to eke out a 6-3 6-4 5-7 6-4 victory over gritty American Marcos Giron and give Australia at least nine players in the second round. The world No 10 had to dig deep to avoid being pushed to a fifth set in his first match since Wimbledon seven weeks ago, with de Minaur’s next test to come against Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen on Thursday (Friday AEST).
But having been forced to pull out of his Wimbledon quarter-final against Novak Djokovic with a hip injury, and then from a second straight Olympic Games, de Minaur was hugely relieved to be back in grand slam contention in New York.
Kokkinakis reward is a golden opportunity to finally make a grand slam run in a wide open pocket of the draw. The 28-year-old next faces unseeded Nuno Borges, with Tristan Schoolkate a potential round-three opponent following the West Australian’s own watershed win over Taro Daniel.
Schoolkate vindicated his wildcard entry with a steely 4-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 comeback victory on his long-awaited grand slam main-draw debut.
“It’s fantastic. I’m obviously very happy to get through that match,” said Schoolkate, the world No 193. “Especially being down two sets to love, it seems like a long way back. But I thought if I just kept with it and keep myself in the match, there’s no time limit in tennis. As long as you’re still playing, you’ve still got a chance.”
The 23-year-old Schoolkate earned a second-round shot at Czeck Jakub Mensik, not to mention a life-changing career pay day of at least $US140,000 ($207,000).
Jordan Thompson earlier shook off the disappointment of missing a seeding by one rankings spot to blow away Constant Lestienne 6-1 6-3 6-2 in less than two hours. The world No 32 did his best to escape the searing heat by breaking the Frenchman six times without dropping his own serve once. Thompson will play world No 7 Hubert Hurkacz for a place in the last 32.
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Max Purcell was Australia’s ninth player to progress after ousting his Sydney mate Aleksandar Vukic 7-5 6-4 6-3. Alexei Popyrin, Rinky Hijikata, Ajla Tomljanovic and 18-year-old qualifier Maya Joint all won on day one.
But women’s wildcard Taylah Preston’s international grand slam debut lasted just 61 minutes in a 6-2 6-0 first-round loss to Russian seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Daria Saville’s comeback from a foot injury ended in frustration and despair, the Australian No 1 losing 6-3 4-6 7-6 (10-6) to Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara in a three-hour, 16-minute cliffhanger.
Destanee Aiava’s run from qualifying ended with a gallant 6-1 7-6 (7-1) loss to fourth seed Elena Rybakina after the Australian had three set points to take the match against the 2022 Wimbledon champion to a decider.
A whopping 13 Australians were scheduled to play on Tuesday, with men’s qualifier Li Tu preparing for a dream date with reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s feature night match on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Chris O’Connell faces 26th seed Nicolas Jarry, while James Duckworth and Arina Rodionova are also in later action.
