Top seed Carlos Alcaraz is within two victories of a career grand slam after piling more major pain on home hope Alex de Minaur in a largely straightforward Australian Open quarter-final victory, secured 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 in 136 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
The heavily anticipated clash delivered a sensational first set in which De Minaur looked a peer of the world No 1. However, Alcaraz took control beyond the one-hour mark, leaving the last Australian in the singles draw helpless, exasperated and pacing behind the baseline between points.
De Minaur is now the third man in the Open era, after Andrey Rublev and Tommy Robredo, to lose his first seven grand slam quarter-finals. He walked off the court downtrodden, and his mood hadn’t lifted by the time he spoke to press half an hour later.
“It doesn’t feel amazing, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “You try to do the right things, you try and keep on improving, but when the results don’t come, or the scoreline doesn’t reflect those improvements, then of course you feel quite deflated.”
Alcaraz won the first three games of each set, and while the Australian found a revival in the first frame, the Spaniard’s serve and groundstrokes wore down De Minaur’s valiant but ultimately helpless defence.
The No 1 seed said his level has been increasing as the tournament goes on, but he admitted he was tested in that first set. “I started the match really well, hitting really well the ball,” he said. “But Alex makes you [feel like] you are in a rush all all the time, so you want to hit the ball as hard as you can every every ball, which is impossible against him. From 3-0 until 4-3, I was in a rush, but I took a moment, took a break.”
From there, Alcaraz produced a formidable display, leaving De Minaur exposed as a wannabe on the world stage. “There was some good parts out there, but overall I’m playing out of my comfort zone and at times out of my skin,” the Australian said, adding he must tweak his normally flat groundstrokes if he is to ever compete with Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
“They’ve got so many revolutions on the ball that they’re able to not only play at a higher speed, but also have that consistency because they’re able to get that spin that helps the ball come down, and create different angles as well.”
On a day the regional area around the city broke temperature records, Melbourne Park’s heat stress scale eased not long after 7pm. The roof heaved open above Rod Laver Arena soon after the conclusion of the one-sided Elina Svitolina v Coco Gauff clash and light streamed into an arena still chilled by the air-conditioning.
De Minaur hoped it might trigger a new dawn. Of course, he had lost his first six grand slam quarter-finals, but also his first five matches against Alcaraz. The vast majority of the 15,000-seat arena were of similar mind, but when the man without sleeves raced to 40-0 in the first game, and then 3-0 in the first set, things were not looking good.
The Australian, at 26, may be four years older than his opponent, but his outstanding mobility and improving all-round game have helped him at least close the gap on Alcaraz and Sinner at the summit of tennis. As the arena heated with the inrushing air, De Minaur managed to find the quality that has taken him to a career high ranking of six.
He got the match back on serve twice, the second with a mid-air backhand that found the corner and was the shot of the match. But when serving to force a tiebreak, the Australian faltered. It was as close as he would come to parity, and early breaks in the second and third sets gave fans an earlier night than that first set had promised.
Alcaraz is now two wins away from his first Australian Open title, which would secure a career grand slam. At the age of 22, he would be the youngest man to achieve the feat, eclipsing Don Budge, who completed the career grand slam at the 1938 French Championships.
The No 1 seed now meets Alexander Zverev in his first Australian Open semi-final, after the German accounted for American Learner Tien on Tuesday afternoon. Alcaraz and Zverev have both won six of the 12 matches they have played.
The Spaniard said he wants to make up for their last meeting in Melbourne, a quarter-final defeat in 2024. “We have to play tactically really, really well, so it’s going to be a great battle,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to playing him again here, taking the revenge.”
Australian hopes at Melbourne Park now rest on three doubles tandems. Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans are through to the men’s semi-finals, as are Olivia Gadecki and John Peers in the mixed. Kimberly Birrell and Talia Gibson play their women’s quarter-final on Wednesday night on Rod Laver Arena.
