Felipe Massa Among Investors in France’s Le Mans Football Team

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Felipe Massa is getting in the futbol game…

The 44-year-old Brazilian racing driver is part of a group of investors who’ve bought a stake in French second-tier football team Le Mans, along with fellow ex-Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen and tennis star Novak Djokovic , the club said on Friday.

Le Mans said in a statement that they join other new financial investors into the club, including Latin American sports investment firm OutField and Georgios Frangulis, the founder and chief executive of OakBerry. Frangulis is the boyfriend of three-time women’s Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka.

“The uniqueness of this fund also lies in its contribution from high-level athletes,” Le Mans president Thierry Gomez said in the statement. “Novak Djokovic, Felipe Massa, and Kevin Magnussen will be part of the adventure.”

No financial details were given.

Massa won 11 races and secured 41 podiums in his F1 career. When driving for Ferrari, the popular Brazilian was within a whisker of winning the 2008 title, only for Lewis Hamilton to beat him in a dramatic finish at the last race. Hamilton won the title by 98 points to 97.

Le Mans football club, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, begin their league campaign on August 9.

Le Mans — a small city in northwestern France — also hosts the famed 24-hour endurance car race.

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Taylor Fritz to Reach Wimbledon Final

Posted on July 11, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is one step closer to a three-peat…

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star moved within one victory of a third consecutive Wimbledon championship and sixth Grand Slam title overall by taking down Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Friday.

No. 2 seed Alcaraz takes a 24-match winning streak into the final Sunday, when he’ll face No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who took apart 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday afternoon.

“Not thinking about the winning streak. Not thinking about the results at all. Thinking about … my dream,” Alcaraz said. “Right now, I don’t want to think about Sunday, to be honest. I just want to enjoy this moment, enjoy that I qualified [for] another final.”

Alcaraz opened as a -150 favorite over Sinner (+100) for the men’s Wimbledon final, according to ESPN BET odds. Alcaraz (+120) and Sinner (+190) were the sportsbook’s two favorites to win the tournament, as well as its most-popular future plays, from the beginning with a combined 76.7% of the handle going into Friday’s semifinals.

Alcaraz is 5-0 in major finals, including wins over Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon finals, and a five-set comeback win over Sinner at the French Open a month ago.

Fritz had two chances to force a fifth set against Alcaraz, leading 6-4 in the tiebreaker. But Alcaraz collected the next four points to finish off the win, then rocked back on his heels, spread his arms wide and screamed.

“I’m just really proud about the way that I stayed calm,” Alcaraz said, “and then [was] thinking clearly.”

That wasn’t the only time Fritz made things interesting. He accumulated more total points than Alcaraz through the first two sets, and he finished with more winners — 44 to 38 — and 19 total aces to 13.

When Alcaraz double-faulted, then missed a forehand, to drop the second, they were even at a set apiece.

But with five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg and celebrities like Anna Wintour and Leonardo DiCaprio looking on, Alcaraz quickly recovered from that lapse, marking some of his best shots with a shout of “Vamos!” or a raised index finger. He never faced a break point the rest of the way, while stealing two of Fritz’s service games in the third set.

“A lot of the things that I would have changed, I think would have only helped me for a point or two, and then I think Carlos would have just made an adjustment,” Fritz said, “and I don’t think it would have been a long-term answer.”

Even when Fritz did get an opportunity to get back into things, Alcaraz was ready. In the fourth set’s first game, Alcaraz provided Fritz a bit of an opening by missing two forehands for love-30. But Alcaraz shut that door just as quickly with four points in a row, including a 134 mph ace and 135 mph service winner.

Amid the tension of the tiebreaker, Fritz took time to delicately lift a butterfly off the grass and out of harm’s way. Soon, he had grabbed five straight points to reach the precipice of going to a fifth set. But Alcaraz never let Fritz get any closer, forcing four errors.

The temperature topped 85 degrees Fahrenheit, with no clouds to offer protection from the sun. For the second consecutive day, spectators had trouble in the heat; there were two brief delays in one second-set game while fans needed to be helped.

The pop of a champagne cork could be heard in the stands just before the start, and Alcaraz burst out of the gate, taking 10 of the initial 12 points, including a break for a 1-0 lead. That game featured glimpses of why Alcaraz is so great already. Indeed, the very first point was illustrative: He returned a 135 mph serve, then capped a 10-stroke exchange with a delicate drop shot.

There would soon be a forehand winner, then a good return that drew a netted response by Fritz. A return of a 128 mph serve that found chalk led to a net-cord winner for the break.

More was to come in a terrific set for Alcaraz. He even managed to out-serve Fritz, delivering six aces and 20 of his 24 service points while reaching 137 mph. Alcaraz won the point on all three of his serve-and-volley tries, including one perfect stop volley. By the end, Alcaraz was 31-for-41 when at the net.

“I feel like that’s the best I’ve seen him serve,” Fritz said.

Carlos Alcaraz Rallies to Defeat Jannik Sinner for Second Straight French Open Title

Posted on June 8, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz comes from behind to win French Open title…

The 22-year-old Spanish tennis star rallied from two sets down and saved three match points to beat world No. 1 Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2) to win his second straight French Open title on Sunday.

In a thrilling final, Alcaraz trailed 5-3, 0-40 on serve in the fourth set but recovered to win his fifth Grand Slam title after 5 hours, 29 minutes, the longest men’s final at Roland Garros in the Open era and the second-longest men’s Grand Slam final ever.

“The match is not finished until he wins the last point,” Alcaraz said in his post-match news conference. “A lot of times people came back from match point down in final of a Grand Slam or even in other matches. I just wanted to be one of those players who saved match point in the Grand Slam final and ended up winning.

“I just believed all the time. I never doubted myself, even in those match points down. I thought, just one point at a time. Just one point and then after one point, try to save that game and keep believing. That’s what I thought.”

Alcaraz is the eighth man in the Open era to successfully defend the Roland Garros title and is the first man to save match points and win a Grand Slam final since Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2019.

It’s the first time in nine attempts that Alcaraz has come from two sets down to win a match.

He’s now 5-0 in Slam finals and extended his head-to-head advantage over Sinner to 8-4.

An Alcaraz comeback looked unlikely as Sinner, chasing his first French Open title and fourth Grand Slam title overall, took the first two sets and broke early in the third.

Alcaraz, roared on by a crowd inside Court Philippe Chatrier that included actor Dustin Hoffman, film director Spike Lee and a host of sporting heroes, hit back to take the third, but the match again looked over when Sinner had three match points at 0-40 on the Alcaraz serve in the ninth game of the fourth.

However, the Spaniard dug himself out of a hole to take the set on the tiebreak and then, after letting an early lead slip in the fifth, rebounded for victory, taking his tally in deciding-set tiebreaks to 12-2.

“When the situations are against you, you have to fight, keep fighting,” Alcaraz said. “It is a Grand Slam final. It’s no time to be tired. It’s no time to give up. It’s time to keep fighting, try to find your moment, your good place again, and just go for it.

“I think the real champions are made in [those] situations when you deal with that pressure in the best way possible. That’s what the real champions have done in their whole careers. I’m just trying to feel comfortable in the situations with the pressure, and I’m not being afraid of it.”

Alcaraz is exactly the same age — 22 years, 1 month, 3 days old — as his countryman Rafael Nadal was when he won his fifth Grand Slam title. Nadal was among the first people to congratulate Alcaraz on social media, joined by Billie Jean King and the Real Madrid football team.

“Honestly, the coincidence of winning my fifth Grand Slam in the same age as Rafa Nadal, I’m going to say that’s destiny, I guess,” Alcaraz said, smiling. “It is a stat that I’m going to keep for me forever, winning the fifth Grand Slam at the same time as Rafa, my idol, my inspiration. It’s a huge honor honestly. Hopefully it’s not going to stop like this.”

Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, told a news conference that the comeback was even more remarkable than when Alcaraz saved a match point in his quarterfinal win over Sinner at the 2022 US Open, when he won his first major.

“I’m not going to say that I was believing that he was able to recover from that 5-3, love-40,” he said. “But one more time with Carlos, everything is possible, and he did it again. Amazing achieve[ment].”

Sinner looked shell-shocked at the end of the match. “I don’t think I will sleep very well tonight,” he said at the trophy presentation.

“Happy about the tournament still,” he said later at a news conference. “But obviously this one hurts.

“It’s a very high-level match, that’s for sure. Happy to be part of this. But yeah, the final result hurts.

“Today I had chances. I was break up in the third. Was break up in the fourth. Was three match points. Serving for the match. Came back. 6-5, I had chances also in the fifth. So many chances I couldn’t use. Sometimes you have these days. You can’t really do anything now.”

Alejandro Tabilo Upsets Novak Djokovic in Second Round of Monte Carlo Masters

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Alejandro Tabilo has pulled off a major upset…

The 27-year-old Chilean professional tennis player beat former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Tabilo had previously handed the 24-time Grand Slam champion a surprising loss at the Italian Open last year.

Back on clay for the first time since winning the Olympic gold in Paris last August, Djokovic said he didn’t have high expectations going into the match.

“I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this, it was horrible,” said Djokovic, who made 29 unforced errors. “I did not have high expectations. I knew I’m going to have a tough opponent, and I knew I’m going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn’t expect.

“I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way. … A horrible feeling to play this way. Just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.”

Tabilo clinched victory on his second match point when Djokovic hit a service return too long. Djokovic had saved one match point in the ninth game when he was trailing 5-3 and 30-40 on his serve, producing a neat drop shot over the net, which his Chilean opponent couldn’t reach.

Tabilo has yet to drop a set against Djokovic. He joined Marat Safin and Jiri Vesely as the only players to have faced Djokovic more than once and not lost; all three hold a 2-0 record over Djokovic.

“It has been a tough year, so a little bit of the nerves were there,” Tabilo said in an on-court interview. “I remembered last time what I did well, and thankfully I served well today and it helped me a lot. It was an unreal match.”

A Monte Carlo title would have made Djokovic the only player to win each Masters event at least three times.

Djokovic, who recently lost the Miami Open final to Jakub Mensik, turns 38 next month — shortly before the French Open starts on May 25.

The Monte Carlo Masters is the first big clay-court tournament of the year on the ATP Tour.

Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Jack Draper at Australian Open to Set Up Quarterfinal Clash Against Novak Djokovic

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is set to face former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the first time at the Australian Open.

In the eighth installment of the riveting, intergenerational rivalry between the 21-year-old Spanish professional tennis player and his 37-year-old Serbian nemesis, the meeting will not only be the first at Melbourne Park, it will also be the first in the quarterfinals of a tournament,

Each of Alcaraz and Djokovic’s other meetings came in either a semifinal or final.

“Well, this is not the right player to play in a quarterfinal, I guess,” a grinning Alcaraz said, looking ahead to Tuesday’s encounter. “But facing Novak, for me, it’s not going to change anything if I’m playing him [in a] quarterfinal or semifinal. Probably change a little bit if it is a final, obviously. Being in a quarterfinal, I’m going to approach the match the same as I did in the previous matches against him, and let’s see.”

Alcaraz reached his 10th career Grand Slam quarterfinal, tied for the most by a man before his 22nd birthday, by advancing when 15th-seeded Jack Draper stopped playing because of a hip injury after dropping the first two sets Sunday afternoon.

Djokovic, who is being coached in Melbourne by old rival Andy Murray, did his part at night in Rod Laver Arena, needing to work a little longer but getting through just the same with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 24 Jiri Lehecka.

There is plenty at stake at this tournament for both No. 3 seed Alcaraz and No. 7 seed Djokovic.

Alcaraz seeks to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam with at least one trophy from all four of the most prestigious events in tennis. His four so far came elsewhere: two at Wimbledon by virtue of wins over Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 finals, and one apiece at the US Open in 2022 and the French Open last year.

Djokovic, meanwhile, is trying to claim an 11th title in Melbourne to become the first player in tennis history with 25 major singles championships. He leads the overall head-to-head against Alcaraz 4-3, including a victory in the final at the Paris Olympics last August to claim a gold medal for Serbia.

At the majors, though, Alcaraz leads 2-1.

“If I think about everything he has done in tennis, I couldn’t play. I mean, 24 Grand Slams, the most weeks at No. 1 — everything. He almost broke every record in tennis. I’m trying not to think about that when I’m in the match. I’m just trying … to beat him,” Alcaraz said. “I know my weapons. I know that [if] I’m able to play good tennis against him, I’m able to beat him.”

Netflix to Serve Up Rafael Nadal Docuseries

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal’s career is getting the documentary treatment.

Netflix is planning to serve up a docuseries about the 38-year-old Spanish former professional tennis player.

A month after revealing his retirement from the sport, Nadal has signed up for a series with the streamer, produced by Skydance Sports.

The untitled series joins Break Point, which ran for two seasons on Netflix before it was canceled, as well as its upcoming Carlos Alcaraz: My Way series.

It comes nine months after Nadal and Alcaraz went head-to-head for The Netflix Slam, a live event exhibition match.

The series will spotlight Nadal’s career as well as his life off-the-court, showcasing never-before-seen material from Nadal’s personal archive and featuring full access with the star, his family and his close circle of coaches and advisors including during his comeback to competitive play in the 2024 season after sitting out much of 2023 due to injury.

Nadal won 22 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, including a record 14 French Open singles titles and is only one of three men (alongside Andre Agassi and Novak Djokovic) to win a Career Grand Slam – all four majors and an Olympic gold medal.

He also won all of the sport’s major events, including four U.S. Open titles, two Wimbledon championships, two Olympic gold medals, and two Australian Open crowns.

The docuseries will be directed by Zach Heinzerling.

Rafael Nadal said, “I never thought I’d do something like this, but I got a call from David Ellison and with his words together with an amazing project they put in front of my eyes it really convinced me this was the right thing to do. Everyone will be able to see how my life has been during my tennis career and particularly in this vey last year I had. It will also show how my life and my tennis career developed through the years. I am sure the final product, the docuseries, will be amazing and that it will be seen around the world. My thanks to David Ellison and his team at Skydance for creating and believing on this project. To my family and my team for allowing being filmed this past year, I know it was not easy for all of us. To my colleagues and peers who have given time to put themselves in front of a camera for some time. And thanks to the tournaments around the world that facilitated the work, it wasn’t easy.”

“Rafael Nadal stands as one of the most influential and greatest figures in the history of sports. We are excited to present his remarkable story to our members, offering an intimate glimpse into his journey to cement his legacy to become the legend he is today,” added Diego Ávalos, Netflix’s VP of Content for Spain, Portugal, and the Nordics. “Partnering with our friends at Skydance to celebrate Nadal’s unequivocal career is a true honor.”

“Rafael Nadal is truly one of the greatest players and inspirations in the history of tennis,” said David Ellison, Founder and CEO, Skydance. “Beyond that, he is a friend and working with Rafa, Zach, and Netflix to tell his story is both an honor and a privilege.”

Rafael Nadal Named to Spain’s Davis Cup Finals Roster Alongside Carlos Alcaraz

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal is preparing to represent Spain once again…

The 38-year-old Spanish tennis star, who represented Spain at the 2024 Paris Games, has been named to Spain’s roster for the Davis Cup finals alongside Carlos Alcaraz.

The announcement raises the possibility of a renewal of Nadal and Alcaraz’s “Nadalcaraz” doubles partnership from the Paris Olympics.

Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, hasn’t competed anywhere since the Olympics, where he lost in the second round of singles to longtime rival Novak Djokovic and paired with Alcaraz to get to the quarterfinals of men’s doubles before exiting against Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

Nadal then withdrew from the US Open and the Laver Cup while still dealing with health issues that’ve limited him to competing only sparingly over the past two seasons.

Alcaraz earned the men’s singles titles at the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July to raise his career Slam total to four at the age of 21.

Spain will take on the Netherlands in the quarterfinal round of the Davis Cup finals, an eight-team event November 19-24 in Malaga, Spain.

The other opening matchups are: defending champion Italy vs. Argentina; the United States vs. Australia; and Germany vs. Canada.

Carlos Alcaraz ThisClose to Becoming Youngest Olympic Tennis Singles Champion

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is one win away from Olympic tennis history…

The 21-year-old Spanish tennis star beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime soundly, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Games on Friday to come within one win of becoming the youngest man to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal.

Alcaraz owns four Grand Slam titles, including a French Open title he won in June at Roland Garros, the clay-court facility being used for tennis at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

He’s about a month younger than Vincent Richards of the U.S. was when he claimed the gold in the 1924 Paris Games.

With dozens of spectators waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags at Court Philippe Chatrier or yelling “Vamos, Carlos!” on a cloudy afternoon — and a soundtrack provided during breaks in the action by a brass band in the stands — Alcaraz was dominant and never faced a break point.

He won the point on 10 of 11 trips to the net. He made just 13 unforced errors, 10 fewer than Auger-Aliassime, who also lost to Alcaraz at this year’s French Open.

“I just couldn’t find a way to be comfortable in any pattern, any position. Whether it was trying to dominate the forehand cross-court or change of direction, the forehand inside-out, the backhand side,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Every aspect. The movement. The defense. I was dominated.”

Auger-Aliassime is a 23-year-old Canadian whose best showing at a major tournament was a semifinal appearance at the 2021 US Open. Auger-Aliassime made it to that round back then when Alcaraz, just 18 at the time, stopped playing in the second set of their quarterfinal because of an injured leg muscle.

“He’s improved a lot, every time we’ve played,” said Auger-Aliassime, who beat Alcaraz in each of their first three head-to-head contests but now has lost the four since, all in straight sets. “I don’t have the solutions right now.”

The Alcaraz on display during his Olympics debut is a much more finished product, someone who has won 12 consecutive matches at Roland Garros and collected a second consecutive title at Wimbledon last month, too.

Alcaraz defeated 24-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic in both of those finals at the All England Club, and they’ll have a rematch for the men’s gold on Sunday after Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia, defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the second Olympic semifinal.

Defending Champion Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Daniil Medvedev to Reach Wimbledon Final

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is one win away from a repeat performance…

The 21-year-old Spanish tennis star has returned to the Wimbledon final after rallying from a set down to defeat Daniil Medvedev in four sets in the semifinals at the All England Club on Friday afternoon, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

With the victory, Alcaraz extends his Wimbledon winning streak to 13 matches in a row—he won seven matches to capture the title a year ago, and he’s now won another six in a row this year.

He’s just the second Spanish man ever to reach multiple Wimbledon finals, after Rafael Nadal, who won the title in 2008 and 2010 and finished runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2011.

He also stays perfect against the biggest names in the sport this year: Alcaraz is now 5-0 against Top 5 players this season following his victory over the No. 5-ranked Medvedev.

ALCARAZ VS. TOP 5 PLAYERS THIS YEAR (5-0):
d. No. 3 Sinner in Indian Wells SFs, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
d. No. 4 Medvedev in Indian Wells F, 7-6 (5), 6-1
d. No. 2 Sinner in Roland Garros SFs, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
d. No. 4 Zverev in Roland Garros F, 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
d. No. 5 Medvedev in Wimbledon SFs, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

There were several momentum swings in the first set, with Medvedev originally going up a break and building a 5-2 lead, then Alcaraz getting back on serve and pushing the set to a tie-break, where Medvedev came out swinging, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before wrapping up the opening frame, 7-1.

Then, Alcaraz came alive—he didn’t even face a single break point in the next two sets to build a two-sets-to-one lead, and then, after the two traded breaks in the first two games of the fourth set, the Spaniard broke one last time in the seventh game, eventually serving the match out a few games later.

Both players finished the match with more winners than unforced errors, but Alcaraz’s ratio was just too good with 55 to 37. Meanwhile, Medvedev had 31 to 24 on the day.

The Spaniard also broke twice as many times, six to three.

Awaiting the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz in the final will be the seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, who defeated No. 25 seed Lorenzo Musetti, in a repeat of last year’s Wimbledon men’s final.

Alex de Minaur Defeats Arthur Fils to Reach First-Ever Wimbledon Quarterfinal

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Alex de Minaur has advanced to the last eight for the first time at Wimbledon…

Two years after blowing a two-set lead and two match points when on the brink of reaching the quarterfinals, the 25-year-old Spanish & Uruguayan Australian tennis player held his nerve as a horror repeat threatened against Arthur Fils.

de Minaur put his fans on No.1 Court – and late night television viewers back home – through the wringer as he dropped the third set, but showed Aussie grit to take the fourth on his second match point.

His 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-3 win, in just shy of three hours, booked a last eight meeting with Novak Djokovic.

The concern now is whether he’ll be fully fit for that challenge having appeared to pull up lame as he played an angled stop volley to win the match, but he said on court: “I’ll be alright. I’ll find a way.”

He later clarified he had “jarred” his hip playing the forehand that set up the winner and it was “a little bit ‘ginger,'” but added, “it’s probably a little bit of a scare more than anything.

“I’m feeling pretty decent. I’ve done my recovery. I’m sure I’ll be feeling great tomorrow.”

“I’m super proud of myself to be in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon,” added the ninth-seeded Australian. “You can count on me going out there, trying my hardest and playing my heart out.”

Asked what pleased him most about his performance de Minaur said: “Getting over the finish line, a great job mentally to get through.”

The quarterfinal will be only his third in a Grand Slam, but also his second in succession after reaching the same stage at Roland Garros last month.

The Australian No.1 looked set to continue his sprint through the Wimbledon field when he raced to a two-set lead in barely an hour, and followed up with an early break in the third.

But from 4-2 up the de Minaur tightened up and lost four successive games, and the set.

Inevitably the nightmare of 2022 resurfaced. Then de Minaur blew a two-set lead against another unseeded player, Chilean Cristian Garin, and two match points in the fifth.

This time it was different.

In the fourth set de Minaur broke immediately, saved serve at 0-40 in the fourth game, then broke again to lead 4-1.

It was the first of five successive breaks of serve, but his French opponent could no hold serve either.

“I definitely made it a lot harder than I should have, I couldn’t hold my serve (at the end), but I backed my returns,” said de Minaur.

Fils had upset de Minaur earlier this year on the red clay of Barcelona, winning 7-5 6-2 in 95 minutes, but the green grass of Wimbledon was a different matter.

de Minaur came out aggressively, pouncing on a short return to set up three break points in the opening game. Under pressure his 20-year-old opponent, betraying a few nerves, double-faulted.

A smart line-call challenge at deuce in the third game led to another break and within a quarter-hour it was 4-0 to de Minaur, who had won 18 of the opening 22 points.

Fils finally got on the scoreboard when he held his serve at the third attempt. This was enthusiastically cheered by a No.1 showcourt crowd who were hoping to see a contest.

But de Minaur held firm to take the set in 29 minutes.

Fils had shown his mettle with a 131mph second serve ace at 2-5, and backed this up by taking a 3-0 second set lead as de Minaur’s game dipped. But the Australian bounced back, taking five successive games to establish a stranglehold on the set, before serving out.

An early break in the third put de Minaur in the box seat, but as victory loomed it seemed the pressure pendulum had swung back on him and Fils took advantage. Finally the crowd had a contest. To de Minaur’s huge relief, he won it.

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