Alex de Minaur’s Queen’s Club let-down has cost Australia’s big hope an all-important top-eight seeding for Wimbledon.
De Minaur’s first-round loss last week to Lorenzo Musetti, two days after claiming his second career grass-court title at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, has relegated the 25-year-old two spots down to world No.9 in the new rankings.
Had he been seeded in the top eight for the first time at a grand slam, de Minaur would have been guaranteed to avoid playing a higher-ranked rival until at least the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
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Now he is at risk of running into the likes of top seed Jannik Sinner, eight-time winner Novak Djokovic or defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth of 16.
He will learn which prospective rival that may be at Thursday’s draw in London.
De Minaur has never ventured beyond the fourth round at the All England Club, but is in the form of his life this year as he spearheads at least a nine-strong men’s challenge.
Three more Aussies progressed to the second round of qualifying at Roehampton on Monday, with Alex Bolt, James Duckworth and Li Tu all racking up impressive wins.
Bolt roared to an emphatic 6-1 6-4 victory over Argentine Nicolas Kicker, before providing his compatriot with some welcome courtside support as Duckworth battled through 6-7 (8-10) 6-2 6-4 against German Benjamin Hassan.
Bolt, 31, was given little time to prepare for his match after being moved up as an alternate on Monday morning (local time) following the late withdrawal of 11th seed Valentin Vacherot.
“I found out at 10.50 for an 11 o’clock start,’‘ said world No.234 Bolt, who next faces 201st-ranked Rudolf Molleker on Wednesday.
“I was about to go get a feed at the restaurant when my name got called over the loudspeaker saying that someone had pulled out, so I had 10 minutes to get my whites on and get on court.”
After firing 24 winners and conceding only six points on serve, the South Australian admitted: “It all just happened so quick, even now I’m still trying to process it properly.”
The in-form Duckworth will next face world No.148 Nicolas Moreno De Alboran after his comeback win.
“It was a super tough match,” said the 30-year-old, who has now won nine of his 12 grass-court matches in the past month on his rise to No.78 in the world rankings.
“That first set was really difficult, I didn’t get many chances on his serve throughout the set, and then the tiebreak I obviously had a couple of chances.
“I was disappointed with a couple of unforced errors on my set points, but I was really happy with the way I bounced back in the second and third. I really turned up my aggression and I thought that was the difference in the end.”
Tu, the 28-year-old from Adelaide, overcame France’s Valentin Royer 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
“I feel great. This is my first Wimbledon, so I’m feeling really pumped,” Tu said.
“Not just about the win, but also how I played today. I played my brand, came forward a lot and hit a lot of volleys. I’m more proud of that and the way I was able to execute my game.”
But there was no joy for perennial Wimbledon trier Marc Polmans, who went out 6-3 6-1 to Belgium’s two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist David Goffin.
Fellow Aussies Tristan Schoolkate, Philip Sekulic and Dane Sweeny were also beaten in round one.
The women’s qualifying draw gets under way at Roehampton on Tuesday (local time), with 10 Australians bidding to make the second round.