Alex de Minaur

It took six deuces, four break points staved off and then three match points, but Alex de Minaur eventually battled his way past Liam Broady after a epic ...

De Minaur had to save a first break point before eventually holding, as a Broady lob landed just beyond the baseline, before another chance came and went in the Australian’s next service game. What followed was a breathless game, taking almost 15 minutes, as Broady had four chances to take it to a tie-break. His forehand became wild and the Court 1 roar would have been heard all around SW19 as Broady got it back on serve. Broady had to grind out a battling hold early in the second set, seeing off three break points before a timely ace moved him 2-1 up and kept it on serve. By now comfortable holds were a thing of the past for Broady and he found himself having to fend off three break points once more. The 28-year-old briefly threatened to play his way back into it, inspired by a late racquet change.

IAN HERBERT ON COURT ONE: Some of the British coaches have been showering love on de Alex de Minaur in the last week, for the galvanising effect he has been ...

'I'm not sure if it was the right solution in the end,' he said. 'It felt like the classic Jimmy Connors type of thing: 'I didn't lose the match; I ran out of time' he said. But he decided to make tennis 100 per cent.' Broady had dropped to 331 in the world shortly before making that change, in 2019. He said after drawing Andy Murray here, a few years back, that winning would be comparable to 'Stockport County winning the Premier League in one season from the Vanarama North.' I felt like the ball was doing what I was trying to tell it to do. But Broady's search for a different tension – something Jimmy Connors frequently tried mid-game - reflected a refusal to yield which has characterised his Wimbledon and had Number One court rising to applaud him by the end.

Alex de Minaur held firm after a late third-set wobble on Saturday to see off Liam Broady and reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time.

Broady struggled to change that pattern as the match wore on, and De Minaur also claimed the solitary break of the second set in the fifth game. De Minaur was making his second appearance in the third round at SW19, having fallen to Rafael Nadal at the same stage in 2018. I’m just enjoying every second I can on the grass and trying to ride this wave.”

De Minaur claimed back-to-back wins over British players as he denied Broady a place in the last 16.

For the first time, errors creeped into De Minaur’s game on the forehand side and Broady nodded as the home crowd recognised his fight to extend the contest. The graft of De Minaur took away Broady’s left-handed forehand and left the 28-year-old with just the single winner in the opener. It earned him applause and recognition from the Court One crowd and afterwards the Briton had a glimpse of a chance on 0-30. De Minaur was always going to be a tough task for Broady. The 19th seed dug deep to outlast Jack Draper in an absorbing late-night battle on Court No 1 on Thursday and he returned to face another left-handed British opponent here. Backed by a deceptively powerful and overwhelmingly efficient serve, De Minaur put away a spirited late rally from Broady to get over the line in two hours and 24 minutes. The 23-year-old was a tenacious and irritating pest to the Broady game throughout, his performance engaging and full of its roadrunner-like qualities.