Alex de Minaur has booked a blockbuster quarter-final with world No.1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner after reaching the last eight of Australian Open for the first time.
Looking to end a 49-year drought since Australia celebrated a local men’s winner, de Minaur lodged a convincing 6-0 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 victory over rising American Alex Michelsen on Monday night.
“It means the world. There’s nothing I want t do more than play well in Australia,” the 25-year-old said in his on-court interview.
“I’m glad I’ve finally made it to the quarter-finals here. Let’s go for bigger and better things – come on.”
As well as his first quarter-final at Melbourne Park, the win ticked off a number of career milestones.
De Minaur is the first local into the last eight since Nick Kyrgios in 2015 and the first Australian to make four consecutive grand slam quarter-finals since Lleyton Hewitt surged all the way to the 2005 Australian Open title match.
But a giant challenge looms in the form of defending champion and world No.1 Sinner, who de Minaur hasn’t beaten in nine attempts and not even taken a set off since 2020.
“I’m looking forward to it, obviously,” said Australia’s world No.8.
“It’s going to be an incredibly tough match and I’m going to have to do something I haven’t done before. But why not start here?”
In the first set at Rod Laver Arena on Monday night, the eighth seed certainly looked like he could give the rangy Italian a shake.
De Minaur played liked a man on a mission, completely outclassing the 20-year-old Californian, who had never previously progressed past the second round of a major.
Michelsen tallied 17 unforced errors, his performance in stark contrast to the player who claimed the scalps of world No.11 and 2023 Open runner-up Stefanos Tsistipas and 19th seed Karen Khachanov in the early rounds.
But with de Minaur’s first serve faltering, world No.42 Michelsen worked his way into the match in the second set.
The Australian blew a break point to go ahead 3-0 and then multiple chances for a 4-1 lead with his big-hitting rival taking advantage.
Michelsen led 6-5 before de Minaur took the set into a tie-break, with a crucial ace at 5-5 helping him secure a two-set lead.
In the third set the Australian No.1 broke his rival to go ahead 4-2 and while there were a few nervous moments as he served for the match, he was able to close it out.
“I had my opportunities in the second set to maybe run away with that one as well and not let him inside of the match but I wasn’t able to close out,” de Minaur said.
“He obviously raised his level and made it a tough match … the second set was pivotal.”
https://thewest.com.au/sport/tennis/ruthless-de-minaur-keeps-australian-open-dream-alive-c-17450307
