Jacob Fearnley’s brilliant debut at the Australian Open ended with a straight sets loss to second seed Alexander Zverev in the third round.
The Scot remains comfortable in the upper echelons of the professional game and he looked out of place against one of the tournament favorites at Margaret Court Arena.
But he was unable to maintain any sustained pressure on Zverev, who cruised to a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory in two hours and two minutes.
Fearnley hit marginally more winners, causing Zverev consistent problems with his forehand, but there were also 34 unforced errors to just 15 for the German.
However, it was a great week for Fearnley, who beat Nick Kyrgios and the Australian in the first round before seeing off Arthur Cazzo in the second round after coming from a set down.
Less than eight months into her professional tennis career, Fearnley will be in the world’s top 80 after the tournament, and she will surely climb higher with no ranking points to defend until June.
The 23-year-old acquitted himself well when he faced Novak Djokovic on his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon last year, before tripping the Serb and almost forcing a decider.
Zverev shakes hands with Fearnley after her third-round win at the Australian Open
He failed to make any inroads on Zverev’s serve here in the opening set, which was decided by one break in the sixth game.
The Scot then took a medical timeout off the court with a problem that wasn’t immediately apparent, but stepped up his aggression early in the second set.
He forced two break points in the second game but was unable to take either, and luck went against him at 3-3 when Zverev broke again after putting Fearnley in a difficult position with a forehand off the net.
Fearnley was not deterred, however, and was right back after seizing the initiative again in a long base rally.
That sparked first emotion from the composed 23-year-old, who pumped his fist and Zverev dropped serve for the first time all tournament.
Zverev also faced a British player on the same court last year, eventually battling past Texas Christian University in Fernley graduate Cameron Norrie in a fifth-set tiebreak.
But Fearnley’s hopes of pulling off something similar took a major blow when she was broken again, double-faulting at 15-30 before hitting a volley.
For Zverev, it was letting up, and the pattern repeated itself in the third set when Fearnley dropped serve and sent the German screaming back into the training box, only to lose serve once.
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Farnley did well to hold serve after that, but Zverev avoided further alarms.
Then the second praised his rival, saying: “I think he’s an incredible player, he’s come through all the stages. I have a lot of respect for him and the effort he’s put into the sport. I think he’s going to get better over the next few years.” :
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