Alex de Minaur overcomes fiancee's heartbreak as World No.4 adds to Wimbledon carnage

Alex de Minaur has opened up on the difficult task of trying to comfort heartbroken fiancee Katie Boulter while focusing and preparing on his own match at Wimbledon. De Minaur and Novak Djokovic edged closer to a blockbuster showdown when they both advanced to the third round on Thursday, but World No.4 Jack Draper joined a cavalcade of top seeds to crash out early.

A whopping eight top-10 seeds (men and women) lost in the opening round - the most at a grand slam in the Open era. And British hope Draper joined the carnage on Thursday when he lost 4-6 3-6 6-1 4-6 to Croatian veteran Marin Cilic.

Alex de Minaur (L) and Novak Djokovic (R) edged closer to a Wimbledon showdown, but World No.4 Jack Draper (centre) crashed out. Image: Getty

Draper was the men's fourth seed behind big guns Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, and considered a smoky to win the grass-court title. But the World No.4 has now failed to reach the third round in any of his four appearances at the All England Club.

"Obviously, [I feel] really upset. Probably one of the toughest losses I feel," Draper said in an emotional press conference. "I thought Cilic played an incredible match from start to finish. [He] didn't let up. He deserved the win."

Jack Draper was distraught after crashing out of Wimbledon. (Photo by Benjamin Gilbert - Pool/Getty Images)

Five of the top-10 seeds are already out in both the men's and women's tournaments. On the men's side it's Zverev (3), Draper (4), Lorenzo Musetti (7), Holger Rune (8) and Daniil Medvedev (9) who've crashed out early, and for the women it's Coco Gauff (2), Jessica Pegula (3), Jasmine Paolini (5), Qinwen Zheng (6) and Paula Badosa (9).

But two top players who managed to avoid the carnage on Thursday were de Minaur (11) and Djokovic (6). And Daria Kasatkina (World No.18) also advanced to give the Aussies three players in the third round (with Jordan Thompson and de Minaur).

De Minaur came back from a woeful first set against French qualifier Arthur Cazaux to win 4-6 6-2 6-4 6-0. After Aussie underdog Aleksandar Vukic had been crushed by World No.1 Jannik Sinner, compatriot Kasatkina came through her second-round arm wrestle with old Romanian rival Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 4-6 6-1.

Speaking after his match, de Minaur revealed the difficulty of having to blank out the disappointment of fiancee Boulter to focus on his own match, after the British star was knocked out in the second round by Argentine lucky loser Solana Sierra. De Minaur was in the stands when Boulter lost, and was left trying to console his 28-year-old other half.

Katie Boulter lost in the second round at Wimbledon. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images)

"There's no real rule book that you can go on, but it's not ideal, it's not nice," he said. "I felt for Katie yesterday, and I've been in those positions myself. It's not easy by any means to forget about it. It's something that kind of stays with you.

"On my side, there's obviously the part of doing my best to comfort her and try to be there for her, the same way she is there for me through the good stuff and the bad stuff. It definitely does have a little bit of impact on yourself, and you've got to do your best to try and have a mental reset and kind of shift your focus towards yourself, realising you do have a match the following day that you've got to prepare for. It's a lot of different aspects to deal with, which aren't easy. I think I can get better at it, but that's experience."

De Minaur is on a fourth-round collision course with Djokovic if they both make it that far. And the 24-time grand slam champion held up his end of the bargain with a 6-3 6-2 6-0 drubbing of Dan Evans.

"Wimbledon still stays the most special tournament in my heart and the one that I always dreamed of winning when I was a kid," said the seven-time champion. "Any history made here is very special for me."

with AAP

This article originally appeared on Yahoo Sport Australia at https://au.news.yahoo.com/alex-de-minaur-overcomes-fiancees-heartbreak-as-world-no4-adds-to-wimbledon-carnage-224115180.html

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