By Lance Jenkinson
Top 50 ranked Australian John Millman withstood a physical test from Frenchman Ugo Humbert to win through to the second round of Australian Open 2020 men’s singles.
Millman took a lengthy three hours and 24 minutes on court three at Melbourne Park on Tuesday to secure a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 1-6 7-5 win in four tough sets.
It is the second time in as many years that Millman has won through to the second round of the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific.
Millman, a 30-year-old from Brisbane, was thrilled to come through in a hard fought encounter.
“Never easy these grand slam matches,” he said.
“Physical match out there today.
“Ugo Humbert is one for the future. You’re going to see a lot of him.”
Millman will meet Poland’s 31st ranked Hubert Hurkacz in the second round.
Hurkacz had to do it the hard way to win his way through, overcoming 99th ranked Australian Dennis Novak in a grueling five setter.
Millman is pleased with his form going into his next encounter after beating a player in good early season form in Humbert.
“He’s one of the form players coming into this tournament, winning Auckland and played some good tennis,” Millman said.
“If you look at some of the guys he beat there, it was a really impressive win for him.”
Millman was pleased with his ability to grit it out.
Getting his nose in front by taking the first set in a draining 74 minutes gave him the edge.
“There were some moments where it wasn’t easy,” Millman said.
“I think that first set was really crucial because it was quite physical.
“In best-of-five set matches when you play such a physically, you know, demanding first set and you get, you win that, it’s kind of a body blow.”
Millman’s best finish to an Australian Open was the third round in 2016.
He can get back on to that stage with a win over Hurkacz.
Quick fire Ajla
Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic executed a blink-and-you’ll-miss straight sets win over 31st seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in the first round of Australian Open 2020 women’s singles.
Tomljanovic brought the Margaret Court Arena crowd to its feet with a stunning 6-1 6-1 victory in just one hour 17 minutes on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old rated it one of the best wins of her grand slam career.
“Yeah, this is one of my best wins quality wise in a slam, first round,” she said.
“Felt really good to be out there. I think from the first point, I felt ready. Felt like I was hitting the ball clean.”
The Croatian-born Tomljanovic is heading to the second round at Melbourne Park for the third time in her career after reaching that stage in back-to-back years in 2014 and 2015.
Her confidence will be at an all time high after the demolition job she did on the shellshocked Sevastova.
Her previous first round wins at the Open came in energy-sapping three setters.
Tomljanovic said the performance was a continuation of her recent strong form, which has resulted in a confidence boost.
“I was playing well in Brisbane and Adelaide,” Tomljanovic said.
“Just kind of backing up my quality of game was big. Just shows that consistency is there, even though it’s just the third tournament of the year. Just that feeling of feeling good on the court, translating what I’ve been doing really well in practice into matches.”
Tomljanovic was huge in the big moments against Sevastova.
Calm under pressure, Tomljanovic saved seven break points.
With a strong performance under her belt, it begs the question to be asked, is Tomljanovic on her way to the peak form of her career in 2020?
After shoulder problems hampered her game a couple of years back, having a clean bill of health could help Tomljanovic click into top gear.
She said her serving has been much stronger since building strength in her shoulder.
“My shoulder has been really well since surgery,” she said. “There were no setbacks.
“I’ve been working on it a lot, just getting it stronger. It’s been a real process of building muscle there. I don’t actually know these stats, but I feel like I’m hitting my serve pretty big.”
Thompson dominates
Australia’s Jordan Thompson barely had to get out of first gear to get through the first round.
Thompson reached the second round for the third time in four years after rolling over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-4 6-3 6-2 on court three on Tuesday.
It took Thompson just two hours and 18 minutes of court time to dispose of the inexperienced Bublik, a player ranked 10 spots higher than his 66th ranking.
Thompson will have a much different task in the second round.
The 25-year-old will face 12th seeded Italian Fabio Fognini – a veteran of the tour.
Fognini, 32, is competing in his 13th Australian Open and has reached the fourth round.
There were also wins for Australians Nick Kyrgios, Alexei Popyrin and Marc Polmans.
The hard luck story was James Duckworth, who led Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene two sets to one, only to go down in five sets.
