Wimbledon 2025: De Minaur, Mensik power on into third round

London, July 3 (IANS) Alex de Minaur defeated French qualifier Arthur Cazaux in four sets while Jakub Mensik and Jan-Lennard Struff also overcame their respective opponents to advance to the third round of men's singles at Wimbledon here on Thursday.

The fired-up Australian recovered from the loss in the first set to overcome Cazaux 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in a vibrant two-hour, 48-minute battle on No. 2 Court. De Minaur, who reached last year’s quarterfinals, produced a clinical response to dropping the first set and did not face a break point during the final three to prevail.

De Minaur reached London after a first-round defeat to Jiri Lehecka at Queen’s Club, but he is showing few signs of a hangover this week. Ranked No. 11 in the ATP Rankings, De Minaur will next face the winner of the clash between qualifier August Holmgren and Tomas Machac.

The NextGenATP star Jakub Mensik also raced into the third round with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) win against Marcos Giron to equal his best run at a Grand Slam tournament.

With this two-hour, 51-minute victory, the 19-year-old became the youngest Czech man to advance to the third round at Wimbledon since Tomas Berdych in 2005. He will next face Flavio Cobolli, who eased past British wild card Jack Pinnington Jones 6-1, 7-6(8), 6-2.

Mensik has enjoyed a standout start to the 2025 season, highlighted by lifting his maiden trophy at the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami, where he stunned idol Novak Djokovic in the final.

Jan-Lennard Struff defeated 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-3, 6-4 and booked a meeting with two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz. Struff had fought back on Wednesday night to win the second set before their second-round clash was suspended due to darkness. Yet the German returned with vengeance to level his Lexus ATP head-to-head series with the Spaniard Auger-Aliassime at 3-3.

--IANS

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