In a first-round clash spanning three days, Chris O’Connell finally completed victory over Hamad Medjedovic to reach the second round of Wimbledon for the first time.
London, UK, 6 July 2023 | Matt Trollope
It was a case of third time lucky for Chris O’Connell, who won his first round match at Wimbledon on his third day of trying.
With the tournament so far hit by frequent rain delays, O’Connell’s first-round encounter against Serbian Hamad Medjedovic took three days to complete.
Winning one set per day, O’Connell finally recorded a 7-5 6-4 4-6 6-4 triumph, advancing to the second round at the All England Club for the first time.
“It’s part of tennis, especially at Wimbledon,” said the Sydneysider of the multiple match interruptions, during which he drew on his experiences in first-round encounter with Gael Monfils in 2021.
“We had a five-set match. We started on Monday and we finished Wednesday night. So I’ve had a bit of experience with dealing with that kind of situation.
“Admittedly a couple of years ago, after each resumption I was quite good but he was always a little bit better, so I knew how important it was when resuming out there to really just show him that I’m ready to go from the get-go again.”
Doing so successfully set a second-round encounter with Jiri Vesely, the powerful Czech who upset 22nd seed Sebastian Korda in round one.
“He’s unbelievable on the grass, especially here. He’s had some great consistent results over the years, so it’s going to be a really tough match,” O’Connell said.
The 29-year-old joins fellow Aussies Alex de Minaur and Jason Kubler, who like O’Connell both won their rain-delayed first-round matches on Thursday.
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O’Connell has enjoyed an impressive grass-court season so far, also reaching the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart.
The world No.73 undoubtedly felt good lining up against 156th-ranked qualifier Medjedovic, but the rain-affected encounter was more a test of patience rather than confidence or skill.
Nevertheless, O’Connell’s skills were a feature of this match, his stylish game well-suited to the slick lawns.
In a taut opening set – played on Tuesday – there were 10 deuces overall across four separate games, which also included five unconverted break points. It took 56 minutes to wrap up.
But towards the end, O’Connell managed to take control. He…
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