Former junior Wimbledon champion Luke Saville has lamented blowing a golden chance to snatch a rare grand slam victory before suffering another first-round exit at the iconic tournament.
Saville on Tuesday went down 4-6 6-4 7-5 6-4 in two hours and 27 minutes against American qualifier Dennis Novikov to join Jordan Thompson and Sam Groth as Australia's first-round losers, leaving the 22-year-old understandably disappointed.
It continued a joyless run at grand slams for the two-time junior champion, with his only victory coming at Wimbledon in 2014 - before he exited in the second round.
Tuesday's clash with the world No.145 and fellow qualifier Novikov - having avoided the biggest names in the draw - presented a "big opportunity" he admitted, and Saville couldn't hide his disappointment at faltering when in control and up a set and a break.
"I had a good chance out there. He could go back and play (the second-tier) Challenger next week and I could face him there, so to face him in a grand slam is a big opportunity," Saville said.
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"But he's ranked 100 spots higher than me ... It's still a tough match.
"It was a good opportunity that I lost today, but I can go out there and work on my game and hopefully it doesn't happen again."
Saville's trusty serve - which proved his biggest weapon through qualifying - failed him as Novikov took control from midway through the second set.
The South Australian totalled eight double faults and just four aces, and while his 122 total points won was just 14 fewer than his American rival it was in the crucial moments where Saville came up short.
"I'm pretty disappointed," he said.
"My serve just dropped off a little bit, well a fair bit, and that just allowed him to play a bit more aggressive and find his feet a bit more, because I was on top."
Saville pointed to the positives of his recent form, and the three impressive wins in qualifying which earned him a spot in the main draw this week, as reason to be content with this year's Wimbledon experience.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon debutant Thompson went out in straight sets to Spanish 14th seed Roberto Bautista-Agut, losing 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Fellow debutant Matt Barton was locked in a first-round dogfight with qualifier Albano Olivetti when rain stopped play late on Tuesday.
Barton hasn't offered up a break point but trails 6-7 (7-9) 6-6 with the pair locked at 5-5 in the second set tiebreak.
