Alex de Minaur

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.