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Alex de Minaur has raced into the US Open third round like he had a hot ticket to Broadway.
Australia’s world No.13 dispatched Yibing Wu 6-1 6-2 6-1 in just 86 minutes to storm into the last 32 for the fifth time in seven trips to New York.
A quarter-finalist in 2020, de Minaur loves the faster pace of Flushing Meadows and sped through Thursday’s match in vastly different fashion to his laborious four-set, first-round dogfight against Kazakh qualifier Timofey Skatov.
Wu is the Chinese giant-killer who not only dumped Nick Kyrgios out of Stuttgart in the grand slam finalist’s premature return from a knee injury this year but also upended Denis Shapovalov and Taylor Fritz en route to the final on Dallas hard courts in February.
But de Minaur broke him seven times, won 82 per cent of his first-serve points and committed a meagre 10 unforced errors in 22 games to join countryman Rinky Hijikata in the last 32.
“Matches are never easy so whenever you get a chance to kind of come away with a win like that, you will take it for sure,” de Minaur said.
“I don’t think he was feeling 100 per cent today. It’s a shame for him but ultimately it is one of those matches I did what I needed to do and happy to be in the next round.
“I was proud of my mental head space the whole match. I was locked in from the very first point until the last and no matter what was happening in the match. You always take a drama free match.”
The 13th seed will play Nicolas Jarry next on Sunday (AEST) after the world No.25 eliminated 17-year-old American wildcard Alex Michelsen 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3
De Minaur beat the Chilean in two tiebreakers in their only previous encounter, on a hard court in Acapulco four years ago.
“He’s dangerous because he’s very big and has a great serve and forehand,” de Minaur said.
“He’s got very good weapons that at any moment he can just flip the switch and take the racquet our of your hand.
“It is going to be a difficult match in the sense that I am going to have to do my best to keep him on the run and uncomfortable out there and try to not to let him dictate to me.”
Fellow Australian Chris O’Connell will look to follow de Minaur and Hijikata into the third round when he faces third-seeded 2021 Open champion Daniil Medvedev later on day four.
Wildcard Hijikata is up against China’s world No.67 Zhizhen Zhang on Friday (Saturday AEST) in his first grand slam third-round appearance.
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov has crushed Briton Andy Murray 6-3 6-4 6-1 to reach the US Open third round as an early battle unravelled into a lop-sided match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 2012 champion Murray, playing some of his best tennis in years recently, could not match Dimitrov’s firepower as he struck 16 winners compared to 32 from the 19th seed in Friday’s match.
Dimitrov will next face German Alexander Zverev, who beat his compatriot Daniel Altmaier 7-6 3-6 6-4 6-3.
Murray, 36, made a slow start as Dimitrov broke him to love in the second game but showed resolve when he broke back at the third attempt in an epic 16-minute game.
But Dimitrov broke Murray to love in the eighth game and again with a well-placed forehand winner in the opening game of the second set.
Murray trailed by a break in the third set when Dimitrov saved two break points and the Bulgarian broke again to close on victory which he secured when his opponent double faulted.
Elsewhere, big-serving John Isner bid farewell to his professional singles career after losing 3-6 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 7-6 (9-7) to fellow American Michael Mmoh.
Isner added 48 more aces to his record tally, starting strongly to win the first two sets before the physical nature of the contest took its toll on the towering 38-year-old.
Fittingly for Isner, who was involved in the longest professional match ever at Wimbledon, his final set came down to a tiebreak and a stick volley at the net gave him a 4-2 lead that brought the crowd to their feet.
Mmoh refused to back down, however, completing the comeback when Isner’s shoestring volley landed in the net.
“Yeah, it’s tough. I like to think I work as hard as I can,” Isner said during an on-court interview before his voice trailed off with emotion.
“This is why I worked as hard as I have my whole life to play in atmospheres like this and of course I may not win them all as we know, just like today.
“But to play in front of this crowd and have the support I had is pretty special so thank you.”
Isner turned pro in 2007 and reached a career high of world number eight. He won 16 singles titles, the biggest being the Miami Open crown in 2018, his most successful season.
He’ll be most celebrated for winning the longest professional tennis match in history against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes and took place over three days.
Jannik Sinner, the sixth seed who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals, advanced to the third round with an emphatic 6-4 6-2 6-4 victory over fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
© AAP
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