Gallant Aussie Vukic exits Open after five-set epic
Alex de Minaur has been left carrying the hopes of a nation after countryman Aleksandar Vukic exited the Australian Open in a devastating five-set defeat.
De Minaur is the last home player left in the singles after the unsung Vukic had his chances at a maiden fourth-round berth at a grand slam but couldn’t quite put away top-ranked Brit Jack Draper, losing 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (10-8).
Both coming off five-set wins in their first two rounds, Vukic and Draper traded blows for three hours and 58 minutes in a nail-biting Friday night tussle on Margaret Court Arena.
A match tiebreak was needed to separate the pair, with Draper clinching the decider with an unreturnable serve at 12.55am local time.
“I thought he was done and he just came back from the dead,” said the 23-year-old Draper, who had been leading world No.68 Vukic 3-1 in the deciding set.
“He was playing incredible.”
The 23-year-old is fast becoming a grand slam spoiler for Australians, having knocked de Minaur out of last year’s US Open quarter-finals and downed Thanasi Kokkinakis in a marathon five-setter in the last round.
His prize is a date with world No.3 and four-time grand slam champion Carlos Alcaraz, who he beat on grass at Queen’s Club last year, for a spot in the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
“My body doesn’t feel too great, lucky I’ve got a good physio,” said the 2024 US Open semi-finalist.
“I’m just thinking about my recovery and getting off the court. I don’t want to think about that (playing Alcaraz) yet.
“Carlos is a special talent, an unbelievable player and someone I have a good friendship with, so I think that’s going to be incredible match … I’ll give it my all.”
It was Vukic’s first time in the pressure-cooker environment of a slam third round.
He had already spent more than six hours getting there following tough five-setters against No.22 seed Sebastian Korda and Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.
An around-the-net forehand winner sparked a slow-starting Draper to life after Vukic secured an early break but he gave it back, losing his serve to love and then dropping it again to fall a set adrift.
Far from crestfallen, Vukic raced out to an unassailable 5-0 lead in the second set and levelled the match behind an avalanche of 13 winners and four aces.
Draper had two break points to force a tiebreak in the third set but failed and then destroyed his racquet when falling down set point, earning a code violation.
An ace down the middle from Vukic ended the set, with boos raining down on his opponent as he returned to his seat.
Draper regrouped to send the contest into a fifth and the Australian was staring at the edge of an abyss at 1-3 and facing two break points but flipped the script to hold and then break for 3-3.
After Vukic clawed to a 6-5 lead in the match tiebreak, Draper got a lucky net cord and stopped just before running into the net to draw level and never looked back.
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