It took Alex Bolt a week to battle his way into Wimbledon through qualifying only for his main draw adventure to be over before Carlos Alcaraz had even begun his title defence on Centre Court.
But Bolt can be proud of his efforts against No.8 seed Casper Ruud.
He took the three-times grand slam finalist to a first set tie-break before succumbing 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 -6-4 in two hours 13 minutes.
With his booming left-hand forehand much in evidence, Bolt never gave up, as might be expected given his mother Cathy and brother Nathan had flown over to London at the weekend to watch him.
It was the first time they had each left Australian shores, and they were rewarded for their journey as the world No.243 saved five match points.
However, he failed to take two break-points at 4-5 in the final set to push the final stanza towards another tie-break.
While Bolt was going down on Court 3,Jordan Thompson was hanging on on Court 10.
Having slipped to a two-set deficit against Russian tournament debutant Pavel Kotov, Thompson had looked like extending his disappointing Wimbledon record.
The 40-ranked Tompson had come to Wimbledon fresh from reaching the Queen’s Club semi-finals but has had not made the second week of the Wimbledon fortnight in seven previous attempts.
At 53rd in the world Kotov is ranked only 13 places below Thompson but is much less experienced, especially on grass. However, it was the Sydneysider who took time to settle, losing the first two sets 7-5 7-5.
But he rallied to take the third 6-4 and having gained an early break in the fourth was heading for a five-setter.
The pair were the first of 11 Australian men onto the grass, the largest delegation for nine years.
Max Purcell and Aleksandar Vukic were also in action on day one, along with Daria Saville in the women’s singles.
Source Agencies
