Australia’s challenge for singles glory at Wimbledon has disintegrated before the first week is out – but last man standing Chris O’Connell was left proud of his sterling efforts despite finally being blitzed at SW19.
The Sydneysider, who’d enjoyed another breakthrough week in his successful 2023 campaign, finally went out to American high-flyer Chris Eubanks 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) amid a barrage of aces on a rain-hit Saturday.
O’Connell’s departure, after being outplayed in three tiebreaks, means Australia won’t have a singles representative in the second week at Wimbledon for the first time in five years.
The last, somewhat surprising survivor of the 10 Australians who’d entered the main draw, O’Connell again produced an admirable performance in his difficult stop-start week as he found himself in action for the fifth successive day.
And once again, the 29-year-old, who had taken three days just to win a first-round match held over by constant stoppages, was forced into another difficult contest which featured two rain interruptions.
The real difficulty, though, lay in the monster serve of 27-year-old Eubanks, a 2.01m streak of lightning from Atlanta whose rise up the rankings this season has seen him becoming increasingly feted in the US, with even Hollywood superstar Jamie Foxx now backing him.
He rained down 23 aces and 50 unreturned serves to constantly have O’Connell on the back foot, and though there wasn’t a great deal to choose between the pair in a serve-dominated contest, it was the world No 43’s booming attacks on key points that proved the difference against the No 73.
“Of course, I’m pretty proud. Third round is awesome. But I’ll probably be a bit happier tomorrow, because I mean, it was an opportunity to make a fourth round, a second week, for the first time” shrugged O’Connell, who also got to the Australian Open last-32 last year.
“I just felt like the whole match was on his racquet. I couldn’t do anything. Not only was his serve fantastic, he was unbelievable off the ground and just didn’t miss. He’s playing some unbelievable tennis.”
Hitting five huge backhand service return winners on crucial points allowed Eubanks effectively took the racquet out of the Australian’s hands as he dominated each tiebreak with increasing authority on Court 18.
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Apart from briefly swapping breaks in the first set, the chances were few and far between for O’Connell, who’d beaten Eubanks in a Challenger event in Korea last year but found him a completely different proposition.
No presence in the second week for Australia – which also happened at the last grand slam, the French Open in Paris – is a far cry from 2022 when four players – eventual finalist Nick Kyrgios, Jason Kubler, Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic – all made the last-16.
“It’s tough making a second week, but we’ve got a lot of good players at the moment that are starting to knock on the door,” said O’Connell, trying to put on a brave face after the Australian exit.
