Alex de Minaur stuns tennis world with 20-year first at French Open

Alex de Minaur has long been compared to Lleyton Hewitt and now he’s doing things we’ve not seen since the former world number one.

Alex de Minaur became the first Australian man to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 with arguably the finest win of his career.

De Minaur defeated Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev in four sets – 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 – to progress to just his second grand slam quarterfinal.

“It’s one of my best slam results. Looks like I’ve converted myself into a clay specialist,” de Minaur said.

The 25-year-old will face either Alexander Zverev or Holger Rune in the final eight after recording his fifth win against a top 10 opponent this year.

“Alex played better,” admitted Medvedev, who doubled-faulted on match point. “To be honest, I’m disappointed to lose, but I don’t have anything to tell myself in a tough way like I was not, good attitude today or I was not fighting till the end. I did all of this. He played better.”

Alex de Minaur served exceptionally well. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty Images

“I absolutely love it here,” de Minaur said, after the four-set win. Picture: Alain Jocard/AFP

De Minaur had never got past the second round at Roland Garros before this year, winning just three of 10 matches.

But he has improved on clay this season, also reaching a first Masters quarter-final on the surface in Monte Carlo. It was his first win against a top five player on clay.

After shaking hands with his vanquished foe, de Minaur walked into the middle of the court, opened his arms and shouted: “I love it here! I absolutely love it here!”

In the third round, de Minaur was famously cheered to victory against Jan-Lennard Struff by a young superfan.

And the boy was back again, this time sitting right behind de Minaur’s player box.

“We found him obviously through the beautiful world of social media, we ended up finding him. We got him to the match,” said De Minaur.

“I think he’ll be chilling with me tomorrow in my practice day, and of course he’ll be there for the very next match.”

With his good luck charm in attendance, de Minaur will look to go as deep as he’s ever been in a slam, after losing in straight sets to eventual winner Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open quarterfinals.

Rod Laver was the last Australian man to win the French Open in 1969.

Medvedev’s best performance in the French Open remains a quarter-final run in 2021, while he has also lost in the first round in five of his eight appearances.

Daniil Medvedev received treatment on his foot during the match. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty

Medvedev clinched a tight first set thanks to an early break and saving break points in three different service games before closing it out.

But the 28-year-old took a medical time-out early in the second set to have a bandage applied to his foot and then lost seven straight games en route to falling two-sets-to-one behind.

However, Medvedev insisted the problem was not a factor in his performance. “Not at all,” he said. “I had a blister, it didn’t help me to call the physio, but I had a blister that got a little irritated so needed to take care of it.” Medvedev battled hard to try and wrestle back the momentum, breaking De Minaur immediately after dropping his serve early in the fourth set.

But De Minaur grabbed the crucial break for a 4-3 lead, reeling off the last four games in the sunshine on Court Suzanne Lenglen to claim his first win over a top-10 player at a Slam since the 2019 US Open.

– with AFP

Originally published as Alex de Minaur stuns tennis world with 20-year first at French Open