Alex de Minaur has battled into the third round of the Australian Open, where he will meet Frances Tiafoe.
It represents the toughest test on paper so far for De Minaur, who has knocked out unseeded duo Mackenzie McDonald and Hamad Medjedovic.
Tiafoe is the 29th seed at the Australian Open, and is into round three after victories over Jason Kubler and Francisco Comesana.
De Minaur is the sixth seed at the hard court Grand Slam, at which the Australian has never made it beyond the quarterfinals.
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Alex de Minaur expects ‘battle’ against Frances Tiafoe
Currently sixth in the ATP rankings, De Minaur previewed a potential match against Tiafoe shortly before the American was confirmed as his next opponent.
He said: “Yeah, look, Frances, he’s super dangerous, right? He’s playing well, got a lot of firepower. He’s a veteran. We’ve had some battles in the past.
“I wouldn’t expect anything other than an absolute battle against him. He seems to be locked in. I would be really excited for that match.”
| Year | Winner | Tournament | Round | Surface | Score |
| 2025 | Alex de Minaur | ATP Masters 1000 Canada | Round of 16 | Outdoor Hard | 62 46 64 |
| 2022 | Frances Tiafoe | ATP Masters 1000 Paris | Round of 16 | Indoor Hard | 63 76(5) |
| 2019 | Alex de Minaur | Next Gen ATP Finals | Semifinal | Indoor Hard | 42 41 04 42 |
| 2018 | Alex de Minaur | US Open | Round of 64 | Outdoor Hard | 64 60 57 62 |
Alex de Minaur gains confidence from different Australian Open conditions
While he received huge support from the home fans on Rod Laver Arena, De Minaur battled his opponent and the weather in his latest match.
It was delayed by rain, with the Australian referencing the conditions when asked if he prefers to play in the day or night slot in Melbourne.
He said: “Look, the way I look at this is the bigger matches are always going to be played at night. So if I want to go deep at this tournament, I need to play well in those types of conditions.
“Yeah, ultimately, doesn’t matter how good you play during the day. But it gets to a point where there’s no more day matches, right?
“I’m happy with the way I dealt with the conditions today. It was a lot of different conditions. We started with the roof open, and it was kind of quite swirly.
“Then all of a sudden the roof closed, and it was an indoor match. But I thought I handled all of that really well.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s good to get that confidence boost that you’ve played a good match at nighttime, as well.”
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It remains to be seen what weather will arrive for his meeting with Tiafoe, which will represent their fifth on the ATP Tour.
And De Minaur can gain further confidence with their career history, having won three of their four matches so far.
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