‘Feels different this time’: De Minaur storms into fourth round as Hunter’s fairytale run ends

Alex de Minaur believes his Australian Open begins now after he stormed into the last 16 again ahead of his bid to reach a maiden quarter-final at his home grand slam.

By ending Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli’s impressive run in Melbourne with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 cakewalk on Friday night, de Minaur becomes the first Australian man to reach at least the fourth round in three consecutive years since Lleyton Hewitt between 2003 and 2005.

Alex de Minaur largely cruised on Friday night as he moved into the fourth round for the third straight year.Credit: Eddie Jim

He is the last Australian standing after qualifier Storm Hunter’s gallant upset bid fell just short, going down to ninth-seeded Czech Barbora Krejcikova, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in an absorbing two-hour, 30-minute contest.

De Minaur was expected to make it this far, particularly after taking three top-10 scalps at the United Cup at the start of the month, and has reached that point in his career where the bar has been raised.

Even the in-form world No.10 feels it is “different this time”.

“I’m happy. Maybe I was a little bit on edge during the match, but I’m happy to get through. Again, being in the second week, it feels like the tournament really starts,” he said.

“I’ll try to get a little bit better and beat my personal best, get to a quarter-final. That’s the first step. I’ve made a couple [of] fourth rounds in the past. I maybe have gotten to that point and not played the type of match I wanted to. I’m hoping I can break that barrier and go one further.

“This is where I want to be … I’ve always been told that the first week of a slam is to get through, however way you want to, and the second week is when you start to play your real tennis. Hopefully, I can do that.

“Now, the matches ... should be against better-ranked opponents. I’m looking forward to that.”

The draw opened beautifully for de Minaur when Cobolli dumped No.18 seed Nicolas Jarry out of the tournament in the first round, but it gets tougher from here, with fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev awaiting him after the Russian downed No.29 seed Seb Korda, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

The Sydneysider has a 3-2 head-to-head edge over Rublev, but lost two of their past three clashes.

Helping de Minaur’s cause is that he again needed only two hours to secure victory, and he feels the “freshest” he has ever been at this stage of a major.

“He’s got some immense firepower, and his forehand is deadly,” de Minaur said of Rublev.

“It’s basically do your best to not allow him to hit forehands, especially from the middle of the court. That will probably be the game plan against him.”

Hewitt – his confidante, unofficial mentor and the player he is compared to ad nauseam – was also the last Australian man inside the top 10 before de Minaur, but capped his series of deep Australian Open runs with a runner-up finish in 2005.

De Minaur, on the other hand, has one quarter-final (2020 US Open) from 25 grand slam appearances, so improving that modest record is the next frontier after reaching the ranking milestone he made no secret he was chasing.

Cobolli was the second-straight Italian that de Minaur eliminated, behind Matteo Arnaldi, but the best Italian of all, Jannik Sinner – who has cruised this week and never lost to the Australian in six contests – looms large as a likely quarter-final opponent.

But de Minaur made clear before the event and during it that he is not a draw-watcher.

The 24-year-old will need to find another gear from the fourth round onwards against Rublev to even get a look at Sinner, after struggling initially to find his rhythm on John Cain Arena after playing his first two matches on Rod Laver Arena.

De Minaur was a picture of concentration during his match with Coboli.Credit: AP

“I’m not too dissatisfied with the performance today. Ultimately, I won in straight sets. I won playing some decent tennis,” he said.

“I think probably just playing on a different court today made it a little bit tricky for me to find my footing and my timing in certain shots. I have been playing some great tennis. “Maybe today wasn’t my best level, but I still know that I’ve got that in the bag. Hopefully, the next match, I can show that.”

Cobolli, who finished the match with strapping on his right thigh after a third-set medical time-out, struck some telling blows off each wing and did enough to break the local star once in the first set – and earn six break points in the second – but lacks the firepower of de Minaur’s upcoming rivals.

De Minaur was able to be more aggressive at times than he was against Milos Raonic in the first round or Arnaldi in the second round.

He actually hit more winners (26-23) than Cobolli, was sharp around the net (winning 81 per cent of points there), and made life hell for the Italian in his service games.

Cobolli won only 59 per cent of his first-serve points, and de Minaur terrorised him for more than a quarter of an hour in one return game before breaking him on his ninth chance.

Doubles still a priority for Hunter after fairytale singles run

Storm Hunter will consider focusing on singles at some stage in the future but has unfinished business on the doubles court first – primarily winning a maiden grand slam title.

The 29-year-old qualifier went close to extending her fairytale Australian Open run before losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to ninth-seeded Czech Barbora Krejcikova in the third round after two hours and 30 minutes of high-quality tennis.

Fellow Australian and Billie Jean King Cup teammate Ajla Tomljanovic has encouraged Hunter to ditch doubles – where she is the No.1 player in the world – to put all her energy into singles.

Storm Hunter’s career-best Australian Open singles run is over.Credit: Getty Images

“It’s definitely a consideration. I wouldn’t say it’s a consideration right now. I think where my rankings are; I can still kind of do both at the moment,” Hunter said. “There potentially may be that decision down the line, but for now, no. I’m working out my schedule over the next few weeks and how it looks post-AO, depending where my ranking goes and whatnot.

“My focus now is on doubles and mixed doubles … [but] to be honest, if I’m playing at that level [in] singles, which I have been for the last week, then I think it would be a tough decision because I think to play at that high level and to play doubles is very hard physically to be able to back that up.”

Hunter’s breakthrough slam performance means she will rise about 50 places to a ranking inside the top 130, but she went agonisingly close to advancing to a last-16 clash with 16-year-old sensation Mirra Andreeva.

The left-hander loomed ominously when she restricted Krejcikova to 15-40 at five-all in the second set, but the Czech star produced a series of clutch points to escape, then capitalised on Hunter’s temporary form dip to snatch the second set and go 3-0 up in the decider.

Hunter had one more chance to resuscitate her hopes in the seventh game, when she earned another break point, but Krejcikova sent down an excellent first serve to again get out of trouble.

“I think it’s definitely a level I can replicate ... but it was a high level. I knew that that’s not probably my base level. That’s definitely up there,” she said.

“That was a two-and-a-half-hour match, so if I could [maintain that level], that would be unbelievable. I think I maintained it for about two hours, which is still pretty good. But to compete with the best players and beat the best players, you need to be able to do that for a lot longer.”

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