Alex de Minaur floors Daniil Medvedev to become the first Australian to reach the French Open quarter finals in two decades
- Becomes first Aussie to reach quarters since Lleyton Hewitt
- Stormed back to cruise home after dropping the first set
Alex de Minaur has broken new ground in his flourishing career, dismantling one of the game's powerhouses Daniil Medvedev to become the first Australian man to make the French Open quarter-finals in two decades.
The slight Sydneysider with the big heart and electric speed came from a set down on Monday to defeat the former US Open champ Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 to make it to just his second quarter-final in a grand slam.
'Demon' becomes the first Aussie male player to make the last-eight at the French since his idol, mentor and Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
Alex de Minaur has broken new ground in his flourishing career, dismantling one of the game's powerhouses Daniil Medvedev to become the first Australian man to make the French Open quarter-finals in two decades
De Minaur raced to a 3-0 lead in the third set after dropping the first to Medvedev
And a measure of the magnitude of his achievement is that in the last 42 years, only Hewitt twice (2001 and 2004) and Pat Rafter (1997), among Australian men, have got this far.
Those two, of course, were both grand slam winners and became world No.1s, and this win had a feel of a major breakthrough for the indefatigable de Minaur, the world No.11 who had lost all six of his previous grand slam matches against top-five players.
Fifth-seed Medvedev had knocked out de Minaur in last year's US Open and held a 6-2 head-to-head advantage over him but on the clay the Russian has never enjoyed, it was the Australian who employed all the key gambits to set up a last-eight date with either Olympic champ Alexander Zverev or Denmark's 13th seed Holger Rune.
Too fast, too inventive, too attacking, he overcame a nervy start to grow in confidence and reduced the man who's featured in six grand slam finals to frustration as he constantly pierced Medvedev's famed defence with 51 searing winners.
The sun came out for the first time this tournament on the Court Suzanne Lenglen and the sunshine boy turned up too, pulling off a startling turnaround after Medvedev, who had never got past the quarter-final at Roland Garros, had him on the back foot at the start.
Medvedev missed out on four break points in the opening game but cashed in when de Minaur double-faulted to grab the break that ultimately sealed the opener.
The slight Sydneysider with the big heart and electric speed came from a set down on Monday to defeat the former US Open champ Medvedev
Cleverly varying the pace and height of his groundstrokes, Medvedev gave the Australian no rhythm to work with, and de Minaur's early work was strangely mistake-riddled, as he dished up 19 unforced errors.
More aggressive in the second, de Minaur took the initiative, but the match really appeared to change after the Russian took a medical timeout mid-set for a blistered foot.
When he resumed, de Minaur rocked Medvedev with a searing backhand crosscourt winner that set up his first break with the Russian offering a dismal drop shot to gift it.
It was the prelude to an extraordinary sequence of seven straight games for the Australian, as his game flowered in the sunshine, full of variety, including some artful lobs that had Medvedev for the first time really floundering.
De Minaur raced into a 3-0 lead in the third set, cheered in the stands by the young lad he said had given him life with his passionate cries during his victory over Jan-Lennard Struff, before seizing it 6-1.
When Medvedev, having lost 11 of the previous 12 games, finally got back on the board at the start of the fourth, breaking de Minaur, it appeared he was less dispirited and could rally, but the Aussie kept up the pressure as one thunderous inside-out forehand earned him the final key break for a 5-3 lead.
