Australia’s challenge for singles glory at Wimbledon has ended before the first week is out after last man standing Chris O’Connell was blitzed at SW19.
The Sydneysider, who’d enjoyed another breakthrough week in his successful 2023 campaign, finally went out to American high-flyer Chris Eubanks 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) on a rain-hit Saturday.
O’Connell’s departure, after being outplayed and out-hit in three tiebreaks, means Australia won’t have a singles representative in the second week of the grass-court grand slam for the first time in five years.
The last, somewhat surprising survivor of the 10 Australians who’d entered the main draw, O’Connell, seeking to reach the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time, again produced an admirable performance in his difficult stop-start week as he found himself in action for the fifth successive day.
But once again, the man who had taken three days just to win a first-round match held over by constant stoppages, was forced into another difficult contest which featured two rain interruptions.
The real difficulty, though, lay in the huge serve of 27-year-old Eubanks, a 2.01m streak of lightning from Atlanta whose rise up the rankings this season has seen him becoming increasingly feted in the US, with even Hollywood superstar Jamie Foxx now backing him.
He rained down 23 aces and 50 unreturned serves to constantly have O’Connell on the back foot, but though there wasn’t a great deal to choose between the pair in a serve-dominated contest, it was the world No.43’s booming attacks on key points that proved the difference against the No.73.
Hitting five huge backhand service return winners on crucial points effectively took the racquet out of the Australian’s hands as he dominated each tiebreak with increasing authority on Court 18.
Apart from briefly swapping breaks in the first set, the chances were few and far between for O’Connell, who’d beaten Eubanks in a Challenger event in Korea last year.
No presence in the second week for Australia – which also happened at the last grand slam, the French Open in Paris – is a far cry from 2022 when four players – eventual finalist Nick Kyrgios, Jason Kubler, Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic – all made the last-16.