Alex de Minaur through to French Open second round as Adam Walton prevails in Roland Garros five-setter
Alex de Minaur jokes about being a "clay dog" these days, and he looked perfectly at home on the Roland Garros red dirt as he successfully launched his French Open bid with a win over Laslo Djere.
De Minaur is making a welcome habit of defeating the players he really ought to beat in the majors, and a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) victory over Serbian world number 59 Djere was his 20th consecutive win in a slam over an opponent outside the top-30.
Hours after "Demon" had opened up with his predictable straight-sets win, fellow Aussie Adam Walton forged past German Max Marterer 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 for his second grand slam win.
Fortunately, not even treatment on his toe-strapped right foot at the start of the third was enough to hold up world number nine de Minaur's fleet-footed progress, even if he did get pulled into a bit of a dogfight, having to save four set points near the death.
Djere, who had been 5-2 up in the third, squandered two set points when serving at 5-4 and another pair when 6-4 up in the tie break, but de Minaur's unquenchable spirit enabled him to escape to victory in just over 2.5 hours.
"It wasn't pretty, but ultimately got the win, and that's all that matters," he smiled.
Talking of "not pretty", he was also quick to apologise to the world for the sight of his right foot being the subject of some loving, lingering close-ups by the cameras of the host broadcasters.
"Oh, jeez. I'm sorry for everyone who had to see that. That's not a pretty sight," grinned "Demon".
"Actually, it was nothing major. I often get my toes taped up before matches. One that wasn't taped up was rubbing against the tape."
Determined to build on his quarter-final breakthrough here last year, de Minaur, amid his most promising clay-court season yet, will have a familiar friend backing him all the way again in the shape of French youngster Paul, the "super fan" who cheered him on through rain and shine last year.
"Yeah, Paul's here. He made it. He's got a very distinctive way of supporting me, which, even though I wasn't sure exactly where he was sitting, I could definitely hear him," smiled de Minaur.
"It's great to have him around again. Hopefully, we can have a blast again this year."
De Minaur will next face Kazakhstan's unpredictable Alexander Bublik, who prevented any prospect of an all-Australian second-round clash by defeating Sydneysider James Duckworth 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
With Alexei Popyrin also victorious earlier in the week, Brisbane's unsung Walton ensured there would be three Aussie men in the last 64 as the 26-year-old progressed.
After two agonising five-set defeats in slams, the world number 91 had been fearing a third when Marterer, an experienced qualifier, levelled at two sets all.
After prevailing in 3 hours and 40 minutes, he will next face 17th seed Andrey Rublev, who defeated South African Lloyd Harris in four sets.
The only hiccup for world number two Coco Gauff against Aussie Olivia Gadecki was forgetting to take her racquets to the court.
Even the 23-year-old Gold Coast player had to laugh that, whatever the reason for Coco's absent-mindedness, "it seems like that was the only way I was gonna win the match"
Eventually, with weapons safely returned, Gauff just took the racquet out of Gadecki's hands, waltzing to a 6-2, 6-2 victory in just 71 minutes.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic progressed with a straight-sets win over American Mackenzie McDonald, but 11th seed Daniil Medvedev fell in five sets to Cameron Norrie to become the highest-profile loser on the men's side so far.
AAP
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