‘Best I’ve felt since Wimbledon’: Alex de Minaur fires a warning shot to his rivals with dominant win at the United Cup

The hip injury that ruined his Wimbledon dreams appears long gone after Alex de Minaur dominated his singles match, only for Australia to lose their United Cup tie to Argentina.

Team captain Lleyton Hewitt remains optimistic that Australia can still top Group F despite a first-up shock loss to Argentina, but it wasn’t all bad news as Alex de Minaur dominated his singles match and revealed it’s “the best” he’s felt since a hip injury ruined his Wimbledon campaign.

The world number nine was ruthless in his straight-sets demolition of Tomás Martín Etcheverry in Sydney on Saturday night, with de Minaur moving freely and dominating at the net against his big-hitting opponent.

It continued his wonderful streak at the United Cup where be beat top players Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic 12 months ago which gave him the confidence and belief to have his best year on tour.

That saw him reach three quarter-finals at grand slams, including Wimbledon where he was forced to withdraw from his clash with Djokovic because of an injury that plagued him for the rest of the season.

But he showed no signs of discomfort on his home court just a couple of weeks out from the Australian Open.

Alex de Minaur showed no signs of the hip injury that ruined his Wimbledon campaign in a thumping win at the United Cup on Saturday. Picture: Glyn Kirk / AFP

“I was extremely pleased with my level,” he said.

“Being the first match of the season, you never know what to expect. Tommy is a quality opponent so I was happy in the way that I executed from the very start until the end.

“It’s definitely the best I’ve felt since Wimbledon. I’m very happy with how the body is moving and how it’s feeling.

“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s feeling in the best shape it has been in a very, very long time.”

While ‘the Demon’ played brilliantly, Australia still lost the tie 2-1 and must now beat Great Britain on January 1 and hope other results go their way if they are to sneak into the finals.

They were in a similar position last year after they lost their first tie against Great Britain but recovered to top the group.

“All we can do is prepare as well as possible,” Hewitt said following a shock loss in the mixed doubles.

“We’ve got three days off now as well so it’s really about recovering first and then start preparing for the next match against Great Britain and see what happens.

“Whatever happens though, it’s great preparation for these guys going into the Australian Open.”

Olivia Gadecki was soundly beaten in her singles match as Australia was stunned by Argentina. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

Olivia Gadecki will be hoping to turn things around when she faces Katie Boulter in the singles on Wednesday after Australia’s top-ranked woman struggled with her serve in a straight-sets loss to Nadia Podoroska to start the night.

“I felt like the first set I was a little bit off and I was playing with a bit of nerves,” she said.

“In the second set I felt like I was in the match a bit more and I created some more opportunities. I just didn’t quite execute.

“There were a couple of things that I was struggling with, but Nadia played well. Hopefully with every match I’ll get better.”

Originally published as ‘Best I’ve felt since Wimbledon’: Alex de Minaur fires a warning shot to his rivals with dominant win at the United Cup