If Jack Draper is trying to avoid comparisons to the great Andy Murray, he's doing things completely wrong.
Two years ago, in the second round of the Australian Open, the Scot broke Thanasi Kokkinakis' serve while serving for the match and came back to win a nighttime epic.
On Thursday, in the second round of the Australian Open, Draper broke Kokkinakis' serve while serving for the match and… well, you get the idea.
It wasn't as late (23:55 instead of 4:05) or as epic, but it was a thriller that Novak Djokovic's new coach would have been proud of, and yet another piece of evidence in the growing dossier of evidence that suggests we have someone special. in our hands at Jack Draper.
The final blows were 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in four hours and 35 minutes.
With two sets to one and 5-4 up with the wind in their favor, Kokkinakis was four points away from victory. Draper responded with his best return game of the match to break scoreless.
Jack Draper took on the Australian crowd as he battled to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Draper put his ear to the Australian crowd after earning a crucial break in the fourth set.
The British number 1 defeated Kokkinakis in a five-set epic, two years after Andy Murray did the same.
I even put my ear to the Australian crowd; Perhaps inadvisable but tremendously fun. In theory it was still a long way from the goal; In practice you felt that from then on there was only one winner.
In the third round, believe it or not, he faces another Australian, Aleksandar Vukic. Draper is on his way to becoming public enemy number one around these parts.
Kokkinakis was brilliant for almost the entire match, apart from the two games that really mattered: when he served for the match and at 3-4 in the fifth when he conceded a decisive break. In truth, he has a history of blinking with the finish line in sight, and Murray's marathon is just one example.
Since his main draw debut here in 2014, when he won his first round wild card and impressed in the loss to Rafael Nadal, 'Kokky' has been a firm favorite here.
He has a double dose of support in Melbourne, with the huge Greek expat community on his side and the Australians. The son of Greek immigrants, his blue shorts here carry the legend of a helmeted Spartan warrior.
The Greek-Australian crowd was rowdy, shouting incessantly before and between Draper's services.
Referee Marijana Veljovic became more and more detailed as she tried to come up with different ways to tell people to shut up. “Please, ladies and gentlemen, cheering is great, but don't destroy it by shouting before a player is about to serve.”
At his best he is a charming and effortless player but, a bit like Draper in the early years of his career, Kokkinakis has struggled for fitness over any prolonged period. He is currently dealing with shoulder, hip and leg discomfort.
Kokkinakis had struggled with shoulder, hip and leg discomfort during the second-round tie.
Kokkinakis, the son of Greek immigrants, was supported by a rowdy Greek-Australian crowd.
Every great service he performed seemed to come with a twinge in his shoulder. Even at the top of John Cain's stands you could see his grimace.
That didn't stop him from putting on a remarkable serving display, connecting on 74 percent of first serves and winning 79 percent of those points.
Those numbers are great, but in the first set they were ridiculous: He hit 32 of his first 35 first serves, winning 91 percent.
All Draper could reasonably do was take care of his own serve and wait for his opponent to start failing.
The way Draper lost the first set tiebreaker was extremely unfortunate. Serving at 2-3, he had to abandon his service move three times when Australian voices shouted just as he was about to throw the ball up. Referee Marijana Veljovic pleaded with them to keep quiet, but the damage to Draper's pace had already been done and the double fault seemed almost inevitable.
The 15th seed returned to the match by winning the third set, but this was not the same Draper we saw during his triumphant second half of 2024.
Draper was too passive in his first round, a five-set slog against Mariano Navone, and the same flaw was present here.
He doesn't seem to be throwing his forehand with the same speed we were used to seeing in his run to the US Open semi-finals or the title in Vienna.
Draper broke down and fought to stay in the contest and eventually take down Kokkinakis.
Kokkinakis dominated the exchanges from the baseline, but Draper did what he does: fought, fought and stayed in the contest.
He latched onto his opponent's coattails and when the time came gave them an almighty yank, sending Kokkinakis to the ground and himself into the third round. What a match it was.
After his victory against Kokkinakis's close friend Nick Kyrgios in the first round, Jacob Fearnley could have hoped for a quieter evening against Arthur Cazaux.
In fact, the Frenchman's fans made so much noise that an adjacent match had to be moved to another court.
But the 23-year-old Scot continues to deal with everything this sport throws at him, and came back from a set and a break down to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. That sets up a meeting with second seed and two-time Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev.
Court 6 at Melbourne Park is curiously situated with a normal stand on one side and a bar area on the other. There was constant chatting and drinking in the bar, which generally favored Fearnley, and football-style chanting from the stands, which was dominated by a section of Frenchmen.
As he did against Kyrgios, Fearnley will have taken advantage of his experience playing in the college tennis atmosphere of Texas Christian University.
He lost the first set 5-1 in two legs, as players came and went due to the rain. In that sense, Fearnley will have felt at home: the weather was more like Montrose than Melbourne, gray and windy, with patches of rain throughout the day.
Jacob Fearnley came back from a set down to beat Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in the second round.
Fearnley's steep climb up the rankings continues and the Brit will now face Alexander Zverev
Harriet Dart won the first set against Donna Vekic but ultimately lost to the Croatian star.
Jodie Burrage put up an impressive fight against Coco Gauff in consecutive losses
But once he established Fearnley's assertive game (he generates surprising power with his slim frame), it led to his promotion. Patrons seated around tables just yards from the court jumped off their stools to roar Fearnley to victory.
Your next round is a free throw; he can come out attacking Zverev and see where that takes him.
Fearnley is now 77th in the live rankings as he continues his steep climb from the 600s. He will eventually hit a bump in the road, but for now it looks like the only way is up.
Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage failed to cause any surprises in the second round of the women's singles draw.
Dart won the first set against Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic, but the Croatian recovered to win 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Burrage had threatened to fight back against third seed Coco Gauff after struggling to serve in the second set, but the 2023 US Open winner recovered to complete a 6-3, 7-5 victory.