De Minaur reaches maiden Australian Open quarter-final with dominant win over Michelson
The Australian reached the last eight at his home major for the first time with a 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Alex Michelson. Jannik Sinner awaits next
Alex De Minaur, Australian Open, 2025 Julien Nouet / Tennis Majors
Alex De Minaur remains the sole flag-bearer for Australia in the singles in Melbourne, comfortably coming through his fourth-round meeting with Alex Michelsen 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach his first quarter-final at his home major.
Having only made one Grand Slam last-eight appearance prior to last year, De Minaur has now reached four consecutive quarter-finals across all four major tournaments, completing the list this week at the event that means the most to him.
Backed by a typically vocal home crowd, the Australian never looked in trouble against a dangerous young opponent. The potential threat that Michelson posed was most evident in the American’s headline-making dispatch of former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round.
Yet, today, De Minaur had far too much for his still relatively inexperienced opponent.
dominant de minaur gets off to lightning-quick start
The world No 8 won the first eight games of the contest, breaking three times without reply to sweep the first set before breaking again in the opening game of the second to further stamp his dominance over proceedings.
Despite a chastening start to the encounter, Michelson was able to force a much more competitive second set courtesy of some desperately needed holds to get a foothold into the match. He kept in touch with De Minaur right until the Australian was serving for the set at 5-4, eventually reaping the rewards for his efforts by breaking from out of the blue as the Aussie threw in an untimely loose service game.
But Michelson could not sustain the pressure as De Minaur reasserted his authority by clinching a tight tiebreak 7-5 to move into a commanding two-set lead.
A single break in the sixth game of the third and final set was all De Minaur needed to wrap up a convincing win over the American, as he fended off a break point in the final game to hold serve and move into his first quarter-final at his home major.
“It means the world,” De Minaur told a delighted Rod Laver Arena following victory.
“I love you guys too, so much. There is nothing that I want to do more than play well here, in Australia, in front of you guys. I’m glad I finally made it to the quarter-finals here, so let’s go for bigger and better things.
“My whole career has been day-by-day, it hasn’t been overnight. I’ve had to keep improving every year, in little increments, to get a little bit stronger and bigger. I’ve been working on getting more free points on my serve and a little bit more confidence. Consistency always pays off in the end.”
De Minaur must successfully navigate an intimidating task if he is to reach a career-first Grand Slam semi-final in Melbourne as he takes on world No 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner in the last eight.
“I did get to watch his match today,” the Australian said when asked about his next opponent.
“It was an interesting one – that’s for sure. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be an incredibly tough match and I’m going to have to do something I haven’t done before, but why not start here.”
Prior to this year’s Australian Open, much of the home build-up was centred around the return of Nick Kyrgios, as well as the excitement about a plethora of new-age Aussies who made it through to the second round.
But as the tournament heads into its business end, De Minaur has once again underlined his status as Australia’s leading player.
He alone carries the hopes of the nation in the singles event, and will hope to be able to pull off a seismic upset in the quarter-finals to keep this run going.
Regardless of the outcome of his next match, however, De Minaur’s Grand Slam consistency has been well and truly solidified across the last nine days in Melbourne.
Australia will soon learn whether their man is now ready to take that next step towards being a genuine title contender.
