Jacob Fearnley has reached the third round of the 2025 Australian Open on his main draw debut in a dream run for the rising British tennis star.
Fearnley, who impressively eliminated Nick Kyrgios in the opening round, defeated French world No.78 Arthur Cazaux 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-3 on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old is now set for a mouth-watering showdown with German second-seed Alexander Zverev in the third round at Melbourne Park.
It marks the latest career highlight for Fearnley, was who ranked world No.646 this time last year, having competed in one Challenger-level event.
Just 12 months later, the world No.92 is through the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career as he prepares for a battle with Zverev.
Fearnley signed autographs after his four-set win over Cazaux on Court 6 with one fan yelling from the crowd that the Brit was the ‘the next Andy Murray’ after such an impressive run at his first overseas major event.
‘I don’t think so!’ Fearnley, who faced Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year as a wildcard and only left university last April, replied.
Fearnley was one of six British tennis players to reach the second round at Melbourne Park across both the men’s singles and women’s singles.
Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage were unable to progress any further, suffering defeats to Donna Vekic and Coco Gauff respectively on Wednesday.
Jack Draper defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis while Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter play their second-round matches on Thursday.
Former British No.1 Tim Henman has singled out Burrage for praise despite her defeat after she pushed American third-seed Gauff all the way.
Speaking after world No.3 Gauff beat Britain’s world No.173 Burrage 6-3 7-5, Henman said: ‘[Jodie] was dictating against one of the best players in the world, up 5-3 in the second set.
‘Then suddenly the final four games ran away from her. She will take a massive amount from that and it will be a steep learning curve.
‘Her best is good enough to compete – but when it falls off the level drops too much.’
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