The six-time major quarter-finalist is one of the tour’s consistently best players and has failed to reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam just once in his last 10 attempts.
De Minaur has made no secret of his ambition to one day hold the Australian Open trophy above his head. But first he must get revenge on world number 1 Alexander Bublik, who beat him in straight sets in the second round at Roland-Garros last year to spark the Kazakh’s career-best form.
Bublík bookended de Minaur’s fight with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win over Argentinian Tomáš Martin Etcheverry.
Tiafoe mounted an unlikely late fightback after losing a break in the third set to draw and threaten to extend the match into the fourth.
But one more ferocious forehand, from a return from the service box that de Minaur barely blocked, proved Tiafoe’s undoing after he had saved four earlier break points with tennis-inspired tennis in the penultimate game.
Even then, de Minaur faltered a bit with the finish line in sight, needing three match points – either side to move past break point – to win outright in two hours and 43 minutes.
“Frances is a hell of a competitor, a hell of a player and it was a hell of a battle, so I have a lot of respect for him,” he said.
“I played some of my best tennis of the tournament going two and a half sets and he picked up when he needed to and started to get going. He started to come back and play with some great depth, taking the racquet out of my hand.”
“I just had to do it and it was quite stressful at the end but I was very relieved to get over the line.
De Minaur had to absorb some early blows from Tiafoe, including a pair of break points in the seventh game. The latter was the start of de Minaur’s rise and a perfect summary of why this contest swung in his favor.
Tiafoe rocketed a deep forehand return towards him, but de Minaur somehow controlled the half-volley just short of the baseline before the American haphazardly stretched his forehand wide.
It was far from the last time de Minaur’s dogged defense came to the fore. As for former world number 10 Tiafoe, he lacked the same patience and care in decision-making.
De Minaur controlled the proceedings from that point until midway through the third set.
Loading
He has an incredible knack for chasing down balls and finding ways to extend plays and put his opponents in difficult positions. Something else de Minaur did well on Friday night was dictate regularly from the baseline and move Tiafoe at the other end.
“I was very pleased with the way I hit the ball in difficult conditions against an opponent who is quite strong and maneuvers the ball very well and can easily beat me – but that was not the case today,” de Minaur said.
Tiafoe dropping the first set was a blow to his chances after such a bright start and he quickly ran into trouble early in the second.
In the third game, Tiafoe reached break point, hitting a brilliant inside backhand to go on top, but de Minaur refused to slow down as he did his best windscreen wiper impression.
At one stage in an extraordinary 22-shot exchange, he lobbed a defensive lob from the doubles alley on one side of the court before sprinting to the other and sliding in a full-stretch forehand that miraculously landed deep to nullify the layup.
The scene from Rod Laver Arena on Friday night.Credit: Alex Koppel
As he had done so many times in the match, Tiafoe blinked at first to eventually spray a backhand wide down the line.
It was only one point, but it sums up this competition perfectly.
Read more about our Australian Open coverage
Leave a Reply