Australian Alex de Minaur‘s breakthrough Melbourne Park campaign has crashed to a halt in a straight-sets defeat to Italian Jannik Sinner.
The 22-year-old from Sydney had advanced to the fourth round of his home grand slam for the first time, but a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-4 loss to 20-year-old Sinner has eliminated him from the tournament.
While de Minaur’s defence had been impenetrable in his victories over Lorenzo Musetti, Kamil Majchrzak and Pablo Andujar in the first three rounds, his defensive game was hindered by an uncharacteristically offensive approach in the loss to Sinner.
AS IT HAPPENED: Tsitsipas pulls off great escape in epic
READ MORE: Kyrgios, Kokkinakis reveal details of locker room fight
READ MORE: Legend’s brutal serve for world No.3’s lame exit
US tennis legend Jim Courier made a point of it during the second set.
“The thing that confuses me a little bit about Alex is overt aggression in this match,” Courier said on Nine’s Wide World of Sports broadcast.
“He’s not allowing one of his best attributes to come to the fore – and that’s defence.
“The guy is unbelievably fast and amazing at picking shots off the baseline and getting them back into play and challenging people to beat him.”
But the quality of world No.10 Sinner’s performance cannot be discounted.
The rising star hit 35 winners to de Minaur’s 24 and several of his unreturned shots were superlative.
The best of the lot saw Sinner produce a passing-shot winner while leading 4-2 in the second set.
The two young guns played out an enthralling 19-shot rally and Sinner claimed the point through an exceptional forehand.
“Incredible!” said Australian tennis icon Todd Woodbridge.
“What accuracy on the run from Sinner!”
Woodbridge gave Sinner a sparkling rap after his Rod Laver Arena victory, which set up a quarter-final clash with Greek world No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“That was smooth as silk,” Woodbridge said.
Australian tennis great Mark Philippoussis gave a glowing assessment of Jannik’s performance.
Stream every match, every court of the Australian Open live and free on 9Now.
“Impressive is an understatement,” Philippoussis said.
“The way he was hitting the ball, the heaviness, the way he was coming off the court, the way he was moving, just his presence and the understanding of taking his time in the big situations, saving the break points. That was so incredibly impressive.”
Sinner is set to compete in the quarter-final stage of a grand slam for the second time, after reaching the final eight at Roland-Garros in 2020 but losing to Spanish champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!