‘New year, new me’: Alex de Minaur embraces new mindset as Australia storms into the United Cup quarter-finals

Alex de Minaur heads into the Australian Open with plenty of confidence after he claimed a major scalp to help the hosts reach the United Cup quarter-finals.

Alex de Minaur has breathed new life into his Australian Open preparations to help Australia reach the United Cup quarter-finals. Picture: Colin Murty / AFP

Australia is through to the United Cup quarter-finals following a stunning 2-1 upset win over defending champions the USA that was set up by Alex de Minaur’s straight-sets win over world No.10 Taylor Fritz that has him dreaming of his deepest run at his home grand slam.

After they lost their opening tie against Great Britain, the tournament hosts had to beat the USA to top Group C in Perth, with Storm Hunter and Matt Ebden winning the mixed doubles after Ajla Tomljanovic had lost her singles match to Jess Pegula.

It means all three teams finished with a win and a loss, with Australia sneaking through based on their set percentage.

Monday night’s result continued de Minaur’s strong record against Fritz, with his 6-4 6-2 victory a good bounce back after his opening loss to Cam Norrie.

Alex de Minaur zipped around the court to beat Taylor Fritz at the United Cup. Picture: Colin Murty / AFP

“Today was a new year, new me,” de Minaur said after claiming his 14th win over a top-10 ranked opponent.

“I was in a great headspace and I played the tennis I wanted to be playing, so I’m very happy with that.

“Taylor has got some explosive firepower and you can’t let him dictate. My mindset was to take it to him from the first ball and take any small chances I had to dictate the point. It doesn’t always work out, but it did today.“

Australia could play Serbia in the next round, which would set up a dream showdown with Novak Djokovic, and these are the sort of matches de Minaur needs going into the Australian Open where he’s made the fourth round in each of the previous two years.

“If we’re going based on merely rankings, I think the scoreline was a pretty good scoreline against a top-10 guy,” he said following his win.

“I know it’s over best-of-three and not best-of-five, but if I can bring this sort of level then there’s no reason why I can’t go out and have a deep run.

“That’s the goal, but yet again, best-of-five tennis is completely different. I’ll do my best to try to replicate that at the Australian Open.”

Matt Ebden and Storm Hunter teamed up to win the all important mixed doubles. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

De Minaur’s win set the tone for a special night in Perth that was sealed in style in the mixed doubles.

“This means everything,” Hunter said.

“It is a dream come true. Playing in front of the home crowd and playing with Matty, a Perth local, it is a dream come true to win and go into the quarter-finals at home.”

Meanwhile, Andy Murray’s Brisbane International campaign is over after he lost in three sets to Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov.