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As Marc McGowan writes
Alex De Minaur infamously lost his first 18 matches to top-five opposition, helping create an unwanted narrative that he was a good player who would always fall short against the tour’s elite.
But then everything changed: he beat world No.3 Daniil Medvedev – who had just taken down a series of stars to win in Vienna – in November last year at the Paris Masters.
“Why do it in the first 18, eh?” de Minaur mused afterwards.
De Minaur has since secured three more such wins: over Rafael Nadal at this year’s United Cup, Andrey Rublev at Rotterdam in February, then Medvedev again only a few weeks ago in Toronto on his way to reaching his first Masters 1000 final.
Read the full story here.
The Demon has been in fine fettle at Flushing Meadows
The 24-year-old has dropped only a single set all tournament – in his opening match against Timofey Skatov. Since then he has made short, three-set work of China’s Wu Yibing and Nicolás Jarry, and it was the manner with which he destroyed the fancied Chilean that signalled his intent.
The fourth round of grand slams has been a cursed stage for de Minaur in his career to date, having exited four of five times in the round of 16. The fifth – his only quarter-final appearance – was at the US Open in 2020 but, at the height of Covid, the competition was not at its stiffest.
But the quietly spoken baseliner has previously said he wants to be a top-10 player, and is finally on the verge of becoming one, currently ranked 13 (equal to Nick Kyrgios’s career-high ranking) and appearing set to rise further.
Medvedev, meanwhile, is still ranked third behind only Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz and leads the head to head 4-2. De Minaur has, however, won the two most recent meetings.
Good morning!
Welcome to our live coverage of the US Open. But not just any live coverage, that of Australia’s own Alex de Minaur against Daniil Medvedev.
Get yer cup of coffee ready. Crack open yer chocolate-coated almonds muesli and Lite White, because this tie could throw up anything.
With countryman Rinky Hijikata having fallen to Frances Tiafoe, de Minaur is the only Australian left in the draw.
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