“More than just being sorry, I’m starting to look at it from the other side – that it’s up to me to get him out of that zone, raise my level and show what I’ve got. That’s what helps me in these types of matches.”
Dual major semi-finalist and 2019 Open quarter-finalist Frances Tiafoe, who overcame Argentina’s Francisco Comesana in four sets, is de Minaur’s next obstacle.
De Minaur leads their head-to-head 3-1, including a close three-set win in Toronto last year.
“Frances is super dangerous. He plays well, he has a lot of firepower.” [and] he’s a veteran,” said the Australian No.1. “We’ve had some battles in the past. I wouldn’t expect anything but an absolute battle against him. He seems locked in.”
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Tiafoe, who is coached by Australian Mark Kovacs, is looking forward not only to the encounter with de Minaur, but to the opportunity to play in the “big house”, Rod Laver Arena.
“It’s sooner than we’d both like. [to play each other]but I’m happy to play against him. It will be fun against all those fans,” Tiafoe said.
“I love playing on big pitches and now is when the action really gets going. [There are] there are only tough and good matches ahead of you and you have to seize the opportunity. He will come for me; I’ll come get him. Tennis will get its money.”
De Minaur battled Medjedovic with grueling fight, strong defense and the type of mental toughness his 22-year-old rival – seen as Serbia’s great hope once Grand Slam legend Novak Djokovic eventually retires – is still looking for.
Medjedovic started the night on a mission crushing serves and groundstrokes with an obvious strategy of bullying de Minaur and holding points, which served him well at set-a-bit.
But he was showing signs of stress early in the second set – taking out his frustrations on his team, complaining to the umpire and even giving the crowd a sarcastic thumbs-up after pro-de Minaur fans cheered a double fault.
De Minaur plays an unbalanced backhand against Medjedovic.Credit: Getty Images
Medjedovic’s resistance fell when de Minaur leveled the match at set-all, but a break in play offered the surging Serb a chance to reset.
Instead, de Minaur scored the first six points after the restart, which quickly turned into a 4-0 buffer. By then, the end result was already inevitable.
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It remains to be seen whether de Minaur and Tiafoe will play in daylight or prime time under lights, but the Australian is prepared for either scenario.
“The way I look at it, the bigger matches are always going to be played at night, so if I want to go deep in this tournament, I have to play well in those conditions,” de Minaur said.
“I’m happy with how I handled the conditions today. There were a lot of different conditions. We started with the roof open and it was quite swirly, then all of a sudden the roof closed and it was an indoor match.”
“I thought I handled it all really well. It’s good to get that confidence that you played a good game on the night as well.”
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