Australians produced a Tuesday to forget at Melbourne Park, losing the first seven matches at their home grand slam in a horror first-round Australian Open showing.
Locals Ajla Tomljanovic, Lizette Cabrera, Destanee Aiava, Jordan Thompson, Alexei Popyrin and Thanasi Kokkinakis all bit the dust on day two at the Open, with Alex de Minaur following them through the exit door late on a tough day for home fans at Melbourne Park.
De Minaur’s loss was understandable, given the 18-year-old’s long runs to the last four in Brisbane and the Sydney final over the last week.
He was toppled by 19th seed Tomas Berdych 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-1 on Hisense Arena.
Kokkinakis, on his first Open appearance in three years after serious injuries, also fell in four sets to a higher-ranked opponent, world No.53 Daniil Medvedev.
Their taxing meeting hinged on two tiebreaks, with the Russian eventually triumphant 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 over three-and-a-half hours.
Tomljanovic was unable to join boyfriend Nick Kyrgios in the second round, the 24-year-old falling 7-5 6-3 to former French Open finalist Lucie Safarova in one hour and 26 minutes.
Fellow women’s wildcard Cabrera followed Tomljanovic out with a fighting 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 loss to Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia before Thompson suffered yet another gallant five-set defeat.
The Australian Davis Cup star went down 6-3 6-1 4-6 3-6 6-3 to Argentine Nicolas Kicker after battling a stomach injury throughout the three-hour, 10-minute encounter on Tuesday.
Tomljanovic, who cracked the top 50 in 2015, was on the back foot throughout against Safarova, with her first-serve percentage finishing at 50 per cent.
The 29th-seeded Czech was cantering through the first set world No.107 Tomljanovic grabbed the break back, courtesy of a lucky net cord, to make it 4-all.
But the former world No.5’s experience and class shone in crunch time, turning the screws on Tomjanovic’s serve at 5-all and shutting the door on the first set in 49 minutes.
Tomljanovic dug her way out of multiple break-point holes in consecutive service games to start the second, but was offering little resistance at the other end.
As the double faults continued to pile up, seven for the match, Tomjanovic’s resolve eventually wilted with back-to-back breaks killing off her chances.
Teen wildcard Popyrin lost in four sets to American Tim Smyczek over two hours and 57 minutes.
The 18-year-old claimed a marathon second set tiebreak but lost 6-3 6-7 (14-16) 6-3 6-3 to his more experienced opponent.
Destanee Aiava fell to world No.1 Simona Halep 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 after holding two set points against the Romanian, threatening an almighty uspet.
Johnno
Guest
Destanee Aiava, should be really proud of her effort the highlight of the tournament so far. A 17'-yr old pushing the world no 1 so hard in that first set.
tsuru
Roar Rookie
Oops! Sorry Lucie. I think Lucie Safarova is a class act too. So Ajla Tomljanovic had it really tough too.
tsuru
Roar Rookie
And Ryman, I feel pretty good about the efforts of most of the 7 players mentioned in the article. If you had asked me about their chances before they played, I'd probably have given you even money about Kokkinakis and Thompson and outside chances about the rest. It seems nobody folded badly, all put up good fights and 2 (de Minaur and Aiava) were up against real class acts. I'm disappointed that Kokkinakis lost but I've been very impressed by Medvedev over the last 6 months and he did, after all, win in Sydney last week, so he's clearly in good form. I just hope Thanasi can stay fit from here on. Maybe he and jordan Thompson can do something in the doubles. And hey - Ash Barty won !!!
Ryman White
Editor
Can't remember feeling better about the Aussies we have left, though.