Australian wildcard James Duckworth has continued the string of upsets on Pat Rafter Arena at the 2015 Brisbane International with a heavy 6-2 6-2 drubbing of French sixth seed Gilles Simon on Monday.
With net-rushing variety harking back to the days of the man who the arena was named after, the 22-year-old avenged a defeat to the former top-1o player from three years ago on the same stage.
“Look, I had a really good preseason. Trained really hard up here. I was used to the conditions. I’ve been playing well in practice. It was just a matter of transitioning into a match, and, yeah, I was able to do that today,” Duckworth said.
“My goal is obviously to get inside that top 100. I’m 120ish now, and hopefully I can push forward over the summer and get in the main draw of those Grand Slams.”
Duckworth had a break point for 5-0 in the first set for a chance to serve for it, however Simon avoided the bagel before the Australian could close it out with a wide kicking serve to the advantage court.
A former Brisbane semifinalist, Simon was never able to find his rhythm and was broken immediately for 1-0 in the second.
A faster and fitter Duckworth than the player who fell to Simon last time around, ran down a volley deep into his forehand corner, stabbing it back before the flustered Frenchman dumped a drop-shot into the net.
The Australian survived a break point and held with an ace for 3-1 and continued to pressure the Simon serve, rushing the net on anything short to secure the double break for 4-1.
With the end in sight, Duckworth dropped serve for the first time in the match but secured the double break once more with a straight-forward overhead putaway for 5-1 and served it out after 1h 08mins.
The Sydney-born player said there was a healthy support base among Australia’s rising stars, with many using Brisbane now as their training base.
“There has been a really good sort of atmosphere here up in Brisbane training. A few of us have been training with each other day in and day out and really pushing each other, and I think our tennis is improving,” Duckworth said, before admitting Brisbane now felt like home.
“ Yeah, basically. I’m not back in Sydney very much. You know, I spent all my training up here. It’s a great city. I’ve enjoyed my time.”
Watch match highlights (only available outside Australia):