Alex de Minaur’s dream of making a grand slam semi-final will have to wait a while longer, losing a hard-fought three-setter against world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open.
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De Minaur was clearly better than the same time 12 months ago, when he was blown off the court by Jannik Sinner, playing some excellent tennis against Alcaraz particularly early.
But after a tricky opening set the Spaniard, who is trying to become the youngest man to complete the career slam, was on another level prevailing 7-5 6-2 6-1.
“I started the match really, really well … but Alex makes it like you’re in a rush all the time, so you want to hit it hard all the time,” Alcaraz said post-match.
“You want to hit it at the maximum every time, which is impossible.”
It leaves de Minaur’s career record against Alcaraz and Sinner, tennis’ clear new big two, at 0-19 – though he is inching closer to being truly competitive against them.
Alcaraz will face last year’s runner-up Alex Zverev in the semi-finals on Friday.
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A brutal call from the chair umpire appeared to swing the first set against de Minaur, as Carlos Alcaraz broke at the last moment to win it 7-5.
De Minaur recovered from being down 3-0 and 5-3, breaking the world No.1’s serve multiple times including with the set on the line, before being called for a time violation opening his service game at 5-6.
Even Alcaraz pled with the umpire to withdraw the penalty, saying he wasn’t ready to return and it was far too strict. But de Minaur appeared put off by the call and immediately gave up three set points.
While he saved them all, it left him at a tricky deuce, and an unlucky net cord gave Alcaraz the set on his fourth opportunity.
The Aussie also fell down 3-0 in the second set but couldn’t find his way back into it – missing a huge break opportunity at 4-2.
STRANGE SCENES AS COCO’S CREW MAKE BALLGIRL WORK HARD
For whatever reason, Coco Gauff didn’t bring enough racquets to the court for her Australian Open quarter-final – and it resulted in a bizarre scene involving a ballgirl.
The young volunteer had to run back and forth between Gauff, sitting on her bench, and Gauff’s coaches, sitting on the other side of the court in their corner box, relaying messages about the racquet weight she wanted.
“There’s all sorts of shenanigans with the tension,” Sam Smith said on Nine.
“This young lady. What an athlete to start with. She’s been back and forth, to go back again. And not done yet. No, no. She’s got the message right?”
The commentators worked out Gauff wanted racquets which were two pounds lighter.
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It didn’t seem to help immediately, with the world No.3 losing the opening set 6-1 to Ukrainian No.12 seed Elina Svitolina.
And having seemingly not received the racquets Gauff continued to melt down in the second set, pleading with her coaches for help when she trailed 0-3 and 0-30 before finally holding serve.
It was not enough as Svitolina made her first Australian Open semi-final, taking just 59 minutes to obliterate Gauff 6-2 6-1.
She will face Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday night.
Gauff was seen obliterating a racquet on the concrete floor under Rod Laver Arena post-match.
DEMON’S DATE WITH DESTINY ARRIVES
The good news for Alex de Minaur is that world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz has never won an Australian Open quarter-final, either.
But as Alcaraz eyes a fourth consecutive slam final against his rival Jannik Sinner, and a chance to become the youngest man to complete the career slam, de Minaur is hoping to make Aussie tennis history.
No local man has made the semi-finals of the Australian Open since Lleyton Hewitt’s run to the 2005 final, and de Minaur is 0-for-6 in grand slam quarter-finals for his career thus far.
De Minaur has never beaten Alcaraz in five attempts, and has only won two of the 12 sets they’ve played, though one of those sets was won last year on an indoor hard court – the same conditions the pair will enjoy tonight.
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A loss for de Minaur would not be surprising but it would also cement the idea in the eyes of Aussie tennis fans he does not have what it takes to beat the world’s best.
He is 3-10 over the past 12 months against fellow top-10 players, beating Alex Zverev in the exhibition Laver Cup, Taylor Fritz at the ATP Finals, and Alexander Bublik one round ago at Melbourne Park.
Should de Minaur beat Alcaraz, he will have a genuine opportunity to make the Australian Open final with a favourable semi-final match-up against Zverev – who he has beaten more times (three) than Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic combined (one).
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De Minaur’s match is second on Rod Laver Arena and could start anywhere between 8:30pm and 10pm local time depending on how long the women’s quarter-final before them goes.
First in-form Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina tries to continue her incredible form revival since becoming a mother, with the No.12 seed eyeing an upset of world No.3 Coco Gauff.
The winner will face world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
De Minaur was initially expected to play first in the night session, as usually occurs with his matches, but the winner of his match will not play again until Friday contributing to the decision to make him wait.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN NIGHT 10 ORDER OF PLAY
Men’s and Women’s Singles Quarter-Finals
Rod Laver Arena
Night session from 7pm
[3] Coco Gauff (USA) vs [12] Elina Svitolina (UKR)
[1] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs [6] Alex de Minaur (AUS)