Alex de Minaur is on fire at this year’s Australian Open and is now through to the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
De Minaur defeated Alexander Bublik comfortably to book his place in the last eight, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena.
The home hope’s next test comes in the form of world number one Carlos Alcaraz, with the Spaniard untroubled so far in his pursuit of a Career Grand Slam.
Though he has solidified himself as a top-ten player over the past couple of seasons, de Minaur has yet to make an appearance in the semifinals of a Grand Slam.
He will now have the chance to do just that after beating Bublik, who admitted the Australian was simply the better player in their match.
Alexander Bublik reacts after losing to Alex de Minaur
“I guess next level for someone like Alex would be nearly [a] Slam winner, so we have to see that with the results of Australian Open and further slams that we have,” said Bublik of de Minaur in his post-match press conference.
What does Alex de Minaur need to change to challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner?
“I think he played a great match today. Conditions were not really fitting me. I played all the matches on Margaret [Court Arena], so it was quite fast out there.
“On Rod Laver today, it was quite a bit slow. I mean, it was my fault, didn’t adjust to the conditions as fast as I usually would do.
“You know, that’s tennis. He played great match. He deserved to win. Definitely he was the better player today, so I’m just going to take everything that’s possible from this match to grow and to get back to the stage stronger.”
Alexander Bublik says Alex de Minaur was not returning well
De Minaur snapped a two-match losing streak against Bublik with his win, and took a 4-2 lead in their head-to-head.
Despite de Minaur’s dominant performance, Bublik thought his opponent was also struggling during the match.
“I think he was not returning really well,” explained the Kazakh star. “I guess he also didn’t like the conditions at the beginning, because he was missing second serves, returns like he never missed, because I play him quite a bit.
What has been the biggest upset at the Australian Open so far?
“For me, it was more that he was missing certain shots, and I was speaking to my team. I said, if I play like this, I knew that in five set it would be tough, because I was not making the shots. I was trying to hit past him, and I was always, always challenging.
“I was really winning points on this, like, unforced errors that he was making. So once he cleared this up, it was really tough for me.”
In the head-to-head against Alcaraz, de Minaur trails 5-0, but the two have never faced off at a Grand Slam.
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