Share and Follow
Alex de Minaur’s most promising Australian Open tilt has ended with the local hope being defeated in the quarter-finals by world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
After reaching the Melbourne Park final eight for the first time, de Minaur was trying to reach his maiden semi-final at any slam.
The world No.8 was chasing his first win over Sinner in 10 attempts, after winning just one set against the Italian in their previous nine meetings.
But defending Open champion Sinner defeated the Australian in straight sets — 6-3 6-2 6-1 — in just an hour and 48 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner, 23, will face world No. 20 Ben Shelton in the semi-final, after the American beat Lorenzo Sonego in Wednesday’s other quarter-final.
“I feel like today I was feeling everything,” Sinner said.
“When days [are] like this and you break quite early in each set, it’s a little bit easier.
“He’s a tough competitor. He’s an amazing player.
“We know each other quite well now. We played last year so many times and we try to understand each other’s game, try to prepare ourselves in the best possible way.
“This kind of match, they can go quickly but also they can change very fast. If I go down with the level of it, he takes the opportunity.
“I’m very happy about my performance today.”
World No.2 Alexander Zverev and 10-time champion Novak Djokovic will face off in the other semi-final.
Jannik Sinner (left) is congratulated by Alex de Minaur following their quarter-final match at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Source: AAP / Vincent Thian/AP
De Minaur: ‘I’ll keep improving’
De Minaur, 25, said: “It’s been too many times playing him and seeing the same thing.”
“So I’m not even surprised any more when I face him. Matches like these happen.
“He’s probably my worst match-up, and you can see it in the head-to-head.
“Look, the negative is after playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much; you feel like you just have been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that.
“I guess the other positive is it’s not the first time that I’ve felt that. I felt the same thing when I played Novak [Djokovic] a couple of years ago. So, hey, I’ll survive. I’ll keep improving.”
De Minaur had dropped just one set across the opening four rounds at Melbourne Park but quickly fell behind against Sinner, who showed no signs of the illness that plagued his fourth-round win over Holger Rune.
Sinner seized the early edge when he broke de Minaur in just his second service game to take a 3-1 lead before wrapping up the opening set.
Sinner picked up where he left off, breaking de Minaur’s serve in the opening game of the second set, then saving a break point himself.
He broke de Minaur again to tighten his grip on the second set, before claiming it.
The third set proved a formality with Sinner again breaking de Minaur in the first game and racing to a 4-0 lead before sealing victory.
