Australia’s French Open challenge has been boosted by hugely encouraging wins in warm-up events for their top two men Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin, while comeback star Thanasi Kokkinakis has been confirmed as a definite starter in Paris.
The good news, though, after a difficult clay-court season for Aussie players was offset by the last three Australians in qualifying at Roland Garros all getting knocked out on Wednesday.
De Minaur, grittily, picked himself off the floor at the Hamburg Open, dusted off the clay caking his kit, got some medical attention and then battled to defeat tough Spaniard Alexander Davidovich Fokina 6-2 4-6 6-4 to move into the quarter-finals.
It was just the tonic the world No.9 needed after first-match exits in his previous two tournaments in Madrid and Rome, with the Paris grand slam kicking off on Sunday.
Davidovich Fokina had his heart broken by de Minaur in last year’s Washington final, losing after he’d held match points, but this time the world No.23 was the one threatening a comeback as he rallied from a set down.
There was a scare at the start of the third, when de Minaur took a nasty tumble into the dirt after being wrong-footed.
He needed to be patched up by the physio but bounced back emphatically, while it was the Spaniard who seemed to suffer more in the brutally physical exchanges, as he needed a medical timeout for a sore serving shoulder.
‘Demon’ raced into a 5-2 lead but had to endure a nervy finish as Davidovich Fokina fought back to 5-4 and saved a couple of match points before the Australian finally got the job done in a two-hour 40-minute slog to set up a last-eight match against either in-form Italian Luciano Darderi or Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.
In the Geneva Open, Popyrin ensured Taylor Fritz’s return after a two-month injury absence fell flat, playing a consummate match to knock out the American world No.8 and top seed 6-4 6-4 to book a quarter-final place.
Fritz was rusty but world No.61 Popyrin, fresh from his encouraging wins over Matteo Berrettini and Jakub Mensik in Rome, looked razor sharp, hitting 25 winners.
“I am very happy,” said the Australian, who’ll get more of a test in the quarters from Norway’s two-time Roland Garros finalist Casper Ruud, who beat Belgian Raphael Collignon 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.
“I am glad to be playing this level finally this year. It has been a tough year for me, so playing this level a week before a slam is always a great feeling,” said the Sydneysider.
Further good news came with Kokkinakis’s camp confirming the injury-plagued 30-year-old, who won a couple of qualifying matches in Zagreb last week in his first tournament since pulling out of the Australian Open with shoulder trouble, will play the French Open, his most successful slam, using his protected ranking.
He’ll be one of 13 Australian players in the draw in Paris on Thursday, but, alas, none of the 11 who entered qualifying could join them.
Bernard Tomic, still battling away at 33 having not played a grand slam main draw since Melbourne in 2021, had his eighth attempt since to qualify for one ended, this time by another of the coming Italians, teenager Federico Cina 6-2 6-4, in the second round.
Tristan Schoolkate, similarly, got well beaten by rising 18-year-old American Darwin Blanch 6-4 6-4, while 31-year-old battler Storm Hunter lost in the women’s second-round qualifier to China’s Wang Xiyu 6-2 7-5.
