Alex de Minaur’s moment of truth has arrived, as he bids to become the sixth Australian man to make the Australian Open quarter-finals since the tournament moved to Melbourne Park. Follow live!
Not since Nick Kyrgios made his lone run to the last eight, joining Lleyton Hewitt (2005), Pat Rafter (2001), Mark Woodforde (1996) and Pat Cash (1988), has an Aussie man had such success at his home slam. But more importantly it would be a long-desired breakthrough for the clearly-improved de Minaur.
Having bulked up and added some much-needed power to his game, de Minaur is no longer just Lleyton Hewitt lite, with pre-Aussie Open wins over Novak Djokovic, Alex Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz (the latter in an exhibition) suggesting he has taken a genuine step forward.
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And having spent just over six hours on court through three rounds, the exhaustion which cruelled his US Open run last year – when he effectively broke down against Daniil Medvedev – should not be a factor either.
De Minaur has become a perennial fourth-round contender, as this is his seventh grand slam appearance in the last 16, but to make a second quarter-final appearance he’ll need to take down Russian No.5 seed Andrey Rublev.
The pair have met five times but crucially de Minaur holds a 3-1 advantage on hard courts, defeating Rublev in Rotterdam last February, but then losing a rematch in Paris in October.
De Minaur wins again with crowd buzzing! | 01:23
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NIGHT 8 ORDER OF PLAY – SINGLES 4TH ROUND
All times AEDT
ROD LAVER ARENA
From 7pm: No.10 Alex de Minaur (AUS) vs No.5 Andrey Rublev (RUS)
MARGARET COURT ARENA
No.4 Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs No.15 Karen Khachanov (RUS)
JOHN CAIN ARENA
No.12 Taylor Fritz (USA) vs No.7 Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 7-6(3) 7-5 6-3
Mirra Andreeva (RUS) vs No.9 Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)