Alex de Minaur says six words Aussie fans needed to hear

If you were impressed by Aussie tennis star Alex de Minaur’s round two demolition, you’ll be even more stoked to hear this.

Aussie World No. 10 Alex de Minaur is through to the third round of the Australian Open after romping to a dominant straight-sets win on Wednesday, promising Australia he has “got a lot more to show”.

The 24-year-old defeated Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3 6-0 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena in two hours and, at one stage, won 11 straight games.

Australia was certainly impressed but de Minaur, who admits he is his own harshest critic, said his tennis was still not his best level and while it may have looked like he cruised to victory, the match was “a lot tougher than the scoreline showed”.

“I think so far I have done what I needed to do to win the matches,” he told reporters after the match, speaking about his performance at this year’s tournament so far.

“It hasn’t been probably the prettiest of levels or my best level. I played two opponents where maybe I haven’t been allowed to be as aggressive as I would like, because, you know, they’ve got a lot of firepower. But I do think I’ve got a lot more to show.”

Alex de Minaur is through to the third round of the Australian Open. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

When asked if winning 11 games in a row had him feeling almost unbeatable, de Minaur said: “Yeah, I mean, something that I’m very proud of is my willingness to try and win every single point.

“That’s something, no matter what the scoreline is, I’m constantly drilling myself that I need to win the next point and I need to win the next point.

“I am a little bit disappointed in myself for losing focus in the third set there. But again, I thought it was a pretty good level throughout the whole match. I had a little stint where I lost my focus and got broken in the third set and made things a little bit more complicated than I probably should have, but it does feel very good when you’re winning a lot of points in a row.”

The local hope won 11 games straight. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

De Minaur said he is “hoping to play a lot more matches” on Rod Laver Arena.

“Any time I get a chance to play on RLA, it’s a special moment,” he said. “You know, just again, walking out there, seeing a full, packed crowd all supporting me, it’s a pretty good feeling.”

He also played his first round on Rod Laver Arena against Canadian Milos Raonic, who retired with a hip flexor injury early in the third set at 6-7 6-3 2-0.

De Minaur has been tipped by the likes of Stan Wawrinka and Pat Rafter to go deep in the Australian Open this year, and predicted he could well win a grand slam during his career.

Having ended the 18-year drought since Australia had had a player ranked in the top 10 after a strong United Cup, de Minaur will have another Lleyton Hewitt drought in his sights — Hewitt was the last Aussie to make an Australian Open final way back in 2005.

You’d have to go back to Mark Edmondson in 1976 for the last Aussie to win the title.

But de Minaur is not thinking that far ahead — he’s taking it one match at a time.

Now into the third round of the tournament, de Minaur’s next opponent will be Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli or Russian world No. 65 Pavel Kotov.

De Minaur said Cobolli had a lot of confidence under his belt coming through qualifiers and would be “very difficult to play against”.

As for Kotov, de Minaur said the Russian was coming off his best year and was “dangerous”.

“Hits the ball big. He’s actually a good mover, and, you know, a very tricky opponent. I think both of them are very tricky,” he said.

“Ultimately, again, it’s about me focusing on my side of the court and trying to do the things that I do well and execute and, you know, hopefully that should put me in a good step going forward.”

Originally published as Alex de Minaur says six words Aussie fans needed to hear