American Sensation Sebastian Korda Upsets Alex de Minaur at Wimbledon Championships 2021 R1

Continuing with its trend of upsets, Day 2 at Wimbledon saw World No.15 Alex de Minaur of Australia crash out in the opening round after losing to 50th-ranked American Sebastian Korda in straight sets.

The win also came as further illustration of the rise of Americans at All England this year after the stupendous takedown of World No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas by Frances Tiafoe and the upset of two-time champion Petra Kvitova by Sloane Stephens.

Coming into the tournament on the back of his first Tour title this year at the Eastbourne grass court event, the 22-year-old Aussie started as favorite against the son of former Czech tennis star Peter Korda.

Sebastian Korda took a firm grip after taking first 2 sets against Alex de Minaur

However, the fleet-footed Aussie fell behind in the early exchanges as Korda junior came out, guns a-blazing. It wasn’t long before his high-pressing game was rewarded with a break of serve.

The American kept his foot firmly on the accelerator and held on to his advantage to close the opening set 6-3.

What stood out in the first set was the high percentage of first serves and more winners that Korda logged as the Australian struggled to find his stride.

Keen to press ahead with the momentum from the first set, Korda brought early pressure to bear on his opponent in the second and struck gold before long as he won his second break of serve.

Serving at a high level and firing more winners off his handle, the American held on to his lead to win the second set 6-4.

Minaur fights back to take third set in tiebreak

Desperate for a turnaround in the third set, Minaur tried to put the squeeze on the American’s serve but wasn’t able to break back.

On serve at 3-3 in the third set, the Australian recovered from 30-30 to go 4-3 up. However, the American responded with a clinical service game to make it 4-4.

In the following game, the ninth of the third set, Korda brought up another break point. However, the Aussie pulled back to deuce and converted game point to go 5-4 clear.

At 5-6 in the third set, Korda raced to a 40-0 lead on serve and converted game point to take it to a tiebreak.

Bringing up set point on serve in the tiebreak and converted it to take the match into a fourth set.

Korda prevails in fourth-set tiebreak to send de Minaur packing

Korda brought three break points at 2-1 in the fourth set and converted to open up a 3-1 lead. However, de Minaur managed to break back immediately after to make it 2-3.

The Aussie held serve in the next game to bring the score line on level at 3-3.

At 5-4 in the fourth set, Korda made it 30-30 on de Minaur’s serve. However, the Aussie recovered to bring the score on level at 5-5.

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Both won their follow-up service games to set the stage for another tiebreak.

However, at 6-3 in the tiebreak, Korda had three match points against his name. The American capitalized on his third match point to cap off a memorable win.

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