Some of Duckworth’s best tennis came on those points, which frustrated his ninth-seeded rival, but an untrustworthy forehand cost him. He also bemoaned how often he found himself in trouble on serve.
“Just missed opportunities, and I’m disappointed with how I served – that was the most disappointing part of my game, and generally, I would consider it my biggest strength,” Duckworth said.
“I don’t think it was his best match [either] … but first round, another Aussie, nervous, he hasn’t played a match for 10 days or so – a number of factors go into that.
“But he’s a bloody good player, especially on this surface. He’s only going to get better from this match, and I hope he wins the tournament.”
Alexei Popyrin and Adam Walton joined de Minaur in advancing to the second round, but dual Wimbledon quarter-finalist Ajla Tomljanovic suffered a 6-1, 6-2 exit at 13th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko’s hands.
Olivia Gadecki, Rinky Hijikata and Chris O’Connell also lost late in the day. Thanasi Kokkinakis will continue his clash with 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on Wednesday, with the Canadian leading 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (9-11), 1-1 when play stopped for the night.
Popyrin won his first Wimbledon match since 2019 – and just second overall – in downing Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-4 behind an outstanding serving performance, while Walton’s 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Argentina’s Federico Coria was his first at grand slam level and guarantees a top-100 return.
Alexei Popyrin is into the second round at Wimbledon for the first time in five years.Credit: AP
There is suddenly a great opportunity ahead for Walton, who next faces Francisco Comesana, after the Argentine stunned sixth seed and 2023 quarter-finalist Andrey Rublev in four sets.
“It feels very good. This is obviously my third crack at trying to win one and to finally get over the line and win today was really awesome … I’m over the moon,” Walton said.
“I’ll probably not worry about [my next match] too much tonight and just try and get a really good night’s sleep, then focus tomorrow on the next opponent. I don’t know much about him, but it’s not Rublev, and I’d rather play this guy than Rublev.”
Popyrin was pleased to make his mark at Wimbledon, saying it was “not a secret that grass hasn’t been my favourite surface”.
There were multiple rain interruptions on Tuesday. (Editor’s note: A graduated grey filter was used for this image.)Credit: Getty Images
“This year I’ve been saying it’s the most comfortable I’ve felt on grass in my whole career,” said Popyrin, whose second-round opponent is 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
“Movement-wise, playing-wise, I feel like I know what I’m doing out there.”
Jordan Thompson, Aleks Vukic and Daria Saville also won their first-round matches on Monday.
Loading
De Minaur’s return game was as sharp as ever against the dogged Duckworth, who fended off break points in each of his first two service games in a sign of things to come, but his first-serve percentage and unusual inefficiency on break points are areas to improve.
He ranks second on the ATP Tour across the past year for break-point conversions (above 45 per cent), so this was a rare day at the office on that front.
Like former world No.1 Hewitt before him, de Minaur is comfortable sacrificing a higher percentage to hit bigger and harder first serves. He can touch 220km/h these days – much faster than he can go in his beloved 1973 Mini 850 Deluxe – although he topped out 10km/h short of that mark on Tuesday.
De Minaur’s return game was sharp.Credit: Getty Images
However, the more relevant number was 44, as in de Minaur’s first-serve percentage in each of the opening two sets, played either side of a one-hour-plus rain delay, the annoyance he became accustomed to at Roland-Garros last month.
That percentage climbed in the third set, and by the end of the match he had made a smidgen more than half his first serves, but he also hit seven double faults.
Flashscore data experts combined key ATP Tour metrics before the tournament to reveal the most valuable players of 2024, with de Minaur coming in at No.8. Of the 15 players listed, de Minaur’s 54.8 first-serve percentage was the only one below 60 and well behind Alex Zverev’s tour-leading 73.2 per cent.
The glass-half-full spin on de Minaur’s display is he was dominant when his first serve landed, winning 14 of 15 points in the opening set and 81 per cent across the match. Many of his 16 aces also came in clutch moments.
“My first-serve percentage wasn’t as high, but I got a lot more easy points on my first serve,” de Minaur said.
“Except for the couple of games where I feel like maybe I lost it, concentration-wise, [and] got broken, I felt like I was going through my service games quite comfortably.
“If I can serve like I did today, hitting spots and hitting aces [but] getting closer to the 60 per cent mark, then that’s ideal.”
The stress was not over once the match ended for de Minaur, who turned supporter to cheer his girlfriend Katie Boulter across the line in a tight 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 win over Tatjana Maria.
De Minaur revealed that this time last year he and Boulter, who own a home together in London, were followed by British paparazzi, but he said it had been a tamer experience 12 months on.
Loading
“I think the fact that there’s probably attention on us because we’re winning matches together is a good sign,” he said.
“We do have a laugh about it [and] enjoy it from time to time, but also it’s quite important for us to switch off as well because there is a lot of tennis in our lives.”
Marc McGowan is at Wimbledon with the support of Tennis Australia.
Watch Wimbledon 2024 from July 1 live and exclusively free on Nine and 9Now with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand with centre court in 4K on Stan Sport.