Sydneysider Jordan Thompson battled from two sets down to advance to the next round of Wimbledon, with a raucous Australian crowd on Court 10 willing the world No.40 to a thrilling victory.
Thompson, one of three Australians to win on the opening day at The All England Club, fell to a two-set deficit against Russian debutant Pavel Kotov and looked like was about to extend his disappointing Wimbledon record.
But he clawed his way way back as he moved Kotov around the court to take his sixth five-set win of his career, in the 5-7 5-7 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory.
“Honestly, I think it’s more of a mental battle. I’m 30 now, and my pre-seasons are behind me,” Thompson said.
“Obviously, I do pre-season now, but I think it counts more when you’re younger, and you’re doing so much repetition work to try and get fit, and build a base, and I think my base is pretty strong.
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“I played for four hours and hadn’t really hit the practice courts too much before this tournament, so that’s nice to know that’s taken care of well before this tournament started.”
Fresh off a final four appearance at Queen’s, the 30-year-old, who has never made the second week of Wimbledon in his seven previous attempts, went down to Kotov in Madrid earlier this year, despite holding match points.
There were moments when it could have gone either way, especially in the third set when Thompson had an animated discussion with the umpire about how long Kotov was taking between points, but he remained focused down the stretch.
While the Aussie has faltered in most five set clashes in the past, he cited a 2017 Australian Open win over Joao Sousa that went the the distance, which has given him the confidence to come through in those situations.
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“I ended up winning like three, two and one [in the final three sets], and I just felt like I was on top of the world,” he said of the Sousa win.
“It gave me so much confidence to know that I can come back from any deficit. Obviously, you need to play well still but just to know that the fitness is taken care of is a big win.”
Thompson will meet Brandon Nakashima next round.
Two other Australians also advanced, with Aleksandar Vukic setting up a clash with Carlos Alcaraz and Daria Saville qualifying.
Vukic defeated Austria’s Sebastian Ofner in nearly four hours, to meet the Spaniard, who he beat in French Open qualifying in 2020 when the latter was 17.
“It’ll mean a lot to me,” he said. “It’s the first, but hopefully not the last time I play on the biggest stage. It’ll be new territory for me and I am very excited to experience it.
“(Playing Alcaraz) will be a great honour and a great challenge, but also another match that I get to test myself.
“I don’t think he liked me beating him. I’m sure we’ll both remember it. But he was just a kid then.”
Saville followed Thompson onto Court 10 and beat American Peyton Stearns 6-4 6-2.
She now meets Ukrainian No.18 seed Marta Kostyuk.
Max Purcell and Alex Bolt were the other Australians in action, but they both fell at the first hurdle.
Bolt pushed Casper Ruud to a first set tie-break before succumbing 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 -6-4 in two hours 13 minutes.
And Purcell, battling a quick turnaround after reaching the final at Eastbourne on Saturday, went down to Finland’s Otto Virtanen, 6-3 6-2 6-2 in 89 minutes.