Alex de Minaur survived a wobble to avenge his Wimbledon loss to Cristian Garin, advancing in four sets to the third round of the 2022 US Open.
New York, USA, 1 September 2022 | Matt Trollope
Prior to his US Open second-round match against Chile’s Cristian Garin, Alex de Minaur said he hoped he could “get some revenge” against the player who ended his Wimbledon campaign.
Two months ago, De Minaur led Garin by two sets to love, and earned match points, before bowing out in five – a result that also prevented an all-Aussie quarterfinal between De Minaur and Nick Kyrgios.
This time around, in New York, there was to be no repeat of that Wimbledon result – although there was a moment when those memories must have come flooding back.
Leading 6-3 6-0 4-2, De Minaur allowed Garin back into the match, spraying a succession of errors to hand Garin a fourth consecutive game, and the third set.
Yet he immediately, and admirably, refocused.
De Minaur broke Garin’s serve in the opening game of the fourth set and went on to build an insurmountable 5-1 lead.
Overall, De Minaur played focused, purposeful and aggressive tennis, becoming the first man into the last 32 thanks to a 6-3 6-0 4-6 6-2 triumph.
Back in the top 20 and seeded No.18 at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur next faces Montreal Masters champion Pablo Carreno Busta, after the two-time US Open semifinalist beat Alexander Bublik.
De Minaur was dominant on return throughout the match, consistently creating opportunities until the dam wall broke.
He missed break-point chances in the second and sixth games but converted in the eighth, taking a 5-3 lead before serving out the set following two positive, aggressive points.
Taking the ball early, deploying sharp angles, covering the court speedily and venturing forward when the opportunity presented, De Minaur overwhelmed Garin in a second-set shutout.
And he continued his dominance in the third.
When Garin trailed 3-1, his unforced error tally was almost double that of his winners. And by the end of the fifth game, De Minaur had earned a total of 14 break points – converting five – while Garin had not managed a single one.
De Minaur soon moved ahead 4-2, before the match changed.
Garin stopped missing, and began landing more blows with his powerful groundstrokes, buoyed by the vocal Court 5 crowd as he reeled De Minaur in.
The Australian then played his worst game of the match in the 10th game; on successive points he…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Tennis.com.au – Tennis Australia…