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Jacob Fearnley’s fine Australian Open debut ended with a straight-sets loss to second seed Alexander Zverev in the third round.
The Scot continues to take the upper levels of the professional game comfortably in his stride and he did not look out of place against one of the tournament favourites on Margaret Court Arena.
But he could not maintain any sustained pressure on Zverev, who wrapped up a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory in two hours and two minutes.
Fearnley struck marginally more winners, with his forehand causing Zverev consistent problems, but there were also 34 unforced errors compared to only 15 for the German.
It has nevertheless been an excellent week for Fearnley, who defeated Nick Kyrgios and the Australian crowd in the first round before coming from a set down to see off Arthur Cazaux in round two.
Less than eight months into his professional tennis career, Fearnley will break into the world’s top 80 after the tournament, and he is certain to go higher with no ranking points to defend until June.
The 23-year-old acquitted himself very well facing Novak Djokovic on his grand slam debut at Wimbledon last year, taking a set off the Serbian and nearly forcing a decider.
He was unable to make any inroads on the Zverev serve in the opening set here, which was decided by one break in the sixth game.
The Scot then took a medical timeout off court for a problem that was not immediately apparent but stepped up his aggression at the start of the second set.
He forced two break points in the second game but could not take either, and fortune went against him at 3-3 when Zverev broke through again after a shot off the netcord put Fearnley in a difficult position.
Fearnley was not deterred, though, and broke straight back after again seizing the initiative in a long baseline rally.
That elicited the first bit of emotion from the composed 23-year-old, who pumped his fist, with Zverev dropping serve for the first time all tournament.
Zverev also faced a British player on the same court last year, finally battling past Fearnley’s fellow Texas Christian University alumnus Cameron Norrie in a fifth-set tie-break.
But Fearnley’s hopes of pulling off something similar suffered a major blow when he was broken again, double-faulting at 15-30 and then netting a volley.
It was a let-off for Zverev, and the pattern repeated itself early in the third set when Fearnley dropped serve, broke back – prompting the German to rant at his coaching box – only to lose his serve once more.
Fearnley did well to hold serve thereafter but Zverev avoided any further alarms.
Afterwards the second seed praised his opponent, saying: “I think he’s an incredible player, he went through all the stages. I’ve massive respect for him, and the effort that he’s put into the sport, and he’s going to get better I think over the next few years.”
