Australian Open: Alex de Minaur knocked out by Fabio Fognini

Alex de Minaur’s Australian Open campaign is over after running into an Italian juggernaut in the form of Fabio Fognini. It leaves all eyes on Ash Barty. 

And just like that, there were none.

Australia’s last male hope exited the Australian Open on Saturday night as the tenacious Alex de Minaur was blown off the court in straight sets by Italian enigma Fabio Fognini.

It leaves the weight of Australia sitting on the shoulders of Ash Barty, after the World No.1 set up a fourth round clash with American Shelby Rogers following her straight sets demolition of Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.

De Minaur, the only seeded Australian male, was simply outclassed in just over two hours by the brilliant Italian.

“It’s one of those matches… you’re leaving it all out there, doing everything you can, but you can just feel he’s playing at another level,” de Minaur said.

“You’re just hanging in there. It’s tough. It’s good, in a way, to have these matches because I can now sit down and see what I need to improve on.

“It’s a constant journey of improvement. I’m not satisfied with where I am. I don’t want to come and make the third round of a slam and be content about it.

Alex De Minaur has crashed out of the Australian Open.

“I want to be pushing deep in slams and pushing second weeks. Today wasn’t the day, but I’ll have more chances and I’ll definitely learn from this.”

Perhaps De Minaur could’ve lifted to even higher levels had he performed in front of a partisan crowd of raucous Melbourne sports lovers. But Victoria’s latest COVID-19 scare put an end to that on Friday.

“Was better for me without the crowd, I think," Fognini admitted after the match.

Footage of Fognini getting into a heated argument with countryman Salvatore Caruso following his second-round victory went viral this week, but on Saturday night the 33-year-old momentarily quashed his internal fire and just put on a show.

He was simply at his irrepressible best.

There was little to fault with De Minaur’s play. He showed trademark desperation around the court and hit deep and to the corners.

But for everything he tried, Fognini had two answers – often in the form of outrageous winners which he was producing with both sides of the racquet.

Fognini smashed 25 winners to the Australian’s 13, but only briefly faltered with the finish line in sight – needing three match points to finally kill off De Minaur’s fight.

At one point de Minaur, brought to the net by a drop shot, then chased a lob to the back of the court to keep the play alive.

Fabio Fognini played at an outstanding level against Alex de Minaur. Picture: Michael Klein

It was the sort of relentless effort that epitomised his match – but the 21-year-old slipped as he whipped a forehand back at Fognini, who caressed his volley back into the open court to break de Minaur to love in the opening game of the third set.

It was that sort of night.

“This is what Alex is made of,” said four-time grand slam champion Jim Courier in commentary, after a typically dogged de Minaur willed himself to a winning rally as the match slipped away in the third set.

“The scoreboard is not looking good for him right now, but he is still fully engaged, locked into battle.”

Originally published as Australian Open: Alex de Minaur knocked out by Fabio Fognini