No Dutch treat for Aussies in grasscourt wipeout
Australian tennis hopes of an encouraging start to the grass-court season have been dashed as both Alexei Popyrin and Kim Birrell got knocked out of the annual pre-Wimbledon tournament at Rosmalen.
The double defeat in the Dutch event on Thursday meant there are no Australians left in the singles at the venue where Alex de Minaur lifted the title in 2024.
With de Minaur taking a rest before competing at Queen's Club next week, most hopes rested on sixth seed Popyrin, who was hoping to rebound swiftly after the disappointment of his fourth-round exit at the French Open at the hands of Tommy Paul.
Up to a career-high ranking of 21 thanks to his run to the fourth round in Paris, Popyrin had looked forward to starting his grass campaign in style after a first-round bye, but found himself edged out in a three-set duel with Zizou Bergs.
The Belgian, named after the French soccer great Zinedine Zidane whose nickname is 'Zizou', outlasted Australia's No.2 Popyrin 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-3) after the Sydneysider had taken the opening set in their last-16 clash.
Popyrin had his moments, including one dazzling angled crosscourt winner that he scooped up after chasing down a Bergs volley, but it wasn't enough to earn the 25-year-old his first quarter-final berth in a grass-court event.
Meanwhile, in the women's event, world No.69 Birrell, who had defeated another Chinese Wang Xinyu in the first round, went down to Yuan Yue 6-4 6-3 in the last-16 to end the Australian interest.
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There was at least some good news for the Lions in the performances of their three Australian-born players - Scotland's Tuipulotu plus the Irish pair of prop Finlay Bealham and replacement wing Mack Hansen, who all made excellent debuts in the scarlet. Melburnian Tuipulotu looked the Lions' most incisive attacker even if his handling may have been just a tiny bit off while Canberra's Bealham was instrumental in the Lions' scrum domination. The ebullient Hansen, another Canberra native much loved by the Dublin faithful, got one of the biggest cheers of the night when he came on for the last 20 minutes, and repaid the ovation with a couple of fine raids. The British and Irish Lions' dream of an unbeaten 2025 campaign is over even before they fly out to tour Australia after a jolting opening Test loss to Argentina in a thrilling Dublin curtain-raiser. The party-pooping Pumas gleefully ignored all the hype surrounding the Lions as they ripped through the feelgood factor at Lansdowne Road on Friday night with a deserved 28-24 victory against Andy Farrell's predictably rusty but surprisingly outgunned outfit. It was the first time for 54 years since their famous 1971 triumph in New Zealand with Barry John and co that the Lions have lost their opening match of any tour - and the setback left coach Farrell quickly reading the riot act. He didn't hold back about his side's lack of intensity as he declared: "They were hungrier than us - and that's just not acceptable." There were moments, as the Lions scored three tries through centre Bundee Aki, a penalty try and lock Tadhg Beirne, when they showed what captain Maro Itoje called "glimmers of what we can do", the sort of cohesive attacking and forward domination they'll need in their nine Australian matches including three Tests. But their error count was horrendous, allowing the slick visitors, who Beirne had reckoned would be treating the match as their "World Cup final", to lead 21-10 at halftime and then hold out courageously after repelling the Lions' second-half comeback. The excellent counter-attacking Pumas also crossed the whitewash three times through Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz and Santiago Cordero in a deflating evening for the Lions before they fly out to Perth for their first match against Western Force next Saturday. "It's disappointing. We've got to take the learnings from this," said Farrell, back at the Aviva Stadium where he's led Ireland to so much success. Not for the first time, the Pumas, who crushed the Wallabies by 40 points the last time the teams met in the Rugby Championship, delighted in spoiling the send-off, the world's No.5-ranked side now adding the Lions to their victims for the first time after beating all three Rugby Championship rivals last season. The Pumas took the upper hand early when, after Mendy's try had been answered by Aki's score, Albornoz struck from a Puma's counter from their own 22 on the stroke of halftime. The Lions, deprived of almost half their squad because of recent club commitments and injuries, had a couple of scores ruled out in the first half - including one from Sione Tuipulotu - because of knock-ons. But Farrell was briefly enthused at the start of the second half when their robust response led to the penalty try and home favourite Beirne powering over. But Cordero then put the also under-strength Pumas back in front with a superb team score and they held on grimly under pressure near their own line only for the Lions to spurn their last chance when a penalty in front of the Argentina posts was reversed over a Beirne neck roll. "Argentina deserved the win and capitalised on all the errors we made," said Farrell. "There is a lot to do. You can't win a Test with that error rate. We lost enough balls in that game for a full tour, throwing balls that weren't on. "There was good and bad throughout. We were just a little bit off - and I take responsibility for that." There was at least some good news for the Lions in the performances of their three Australian-born players - Scotland's Tuipulotu plus the Irish pair of prop Finlay Bealham and replacement wing Mack Hansen, who all made excellent debuts in the scarlet. Melburnian Tuipulotu looked the Lions' most incisive attacker even if his handling may have been just a tiny bit off while Canberra's Bealham was instrumental in the Lions' scrum domination. The ebullient Hansen, another Canberra native much loved by the Dublin faithful, got one of the biggest cheers of the night when he came on for the last 20 minutes, and repaid the ovation with a couple of fine raids.
