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Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 20 January 2025 | Lee Goodall

Alex de Minaur kept the Aussie dream of a home-grown men’s champion alive by moving into his first Australian Open quarterfinal in front of another sell-out Rod Laver Arena crowd on Monday night.

Previously, De Minaur had played his way into the last eight at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, but never on home soil.

On Monday night under the RLA lights he put that right with an emphatic 6-0 7-6(5) 6-3 victory over 20-year-old American Alex Michelsen to make the quarterfinals at his home Grand Slam for the first time.

De Minaur was dominant early on, with Michelson needing a full 41 minutes before he got on the scoreboard. Once ‘Demon’ had nicked a tight second set it always felt like it would be good night for the locals.

The Aussie world No.8’s reward is a meeting with defending champion Jannik Sinner on Wednesday.

The Italian world No.1 struggled physically in a four-set win over Holger Rune earlier on a brutally hot and humid Melbourne afternoon.

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“It means the world. There’s nothing I want to do more than to play well here in Australia front of you guys,” said De Minaur, who becomes the fifth Australian man in the Open era to reach the quarterfinals or better all all four Grand Slams.

“I’m glad I finally made it to the quarterfinals here but let’s go for bigger and better things.

“I had my opportunities in the second set to maybe run away with that one as well and not let him inside of the match but I wasn’t able to close out.

“He raised his level and it made it a tough match and that second set was pivotal. I was extremely happy to bounce back after not a great game to get broken [at 5-4]. That second set was massive.”

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Many wondered whether the big-hitting Californian world No.42 would be able to live with De Minaur’s consistency and world-class defence and the answer during the opening 40 minutes or so was a hard no.

The 25-year-old Sydneysider, who can prepare for the fifth Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career, rattled through the opening set in flash as Michelsen’s error count sky-rocketed on his way to a 27-minute bagel.

After De Minaur had waltzed through the first eight games of the match Michelsen finally had something to smile about when he made it onto the scoreboard. Even the die-hard Demon fans gave him a cheer.

Despite a better level from the American, De Minaur still looked in complete control as he prepared to serve for the set at 5-4 before throwing in a wobbly game that came completely out of the blue.

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He inexplicably missed a forehand and double faulted from 30-all in the 10th game to allow Michelsen back into the set at 5-5.

Into the shootout they swapped mini breaks during the opening eight points before De Minaur came to life. He struck a trademark forehand pass to level at 5-5, hit an ace to bring up set point and a then deep return drew an error from Michelsen as Rod Laver Arena erupted to celebrate their hero’s two-set lead.

Michelsen stayed with De Minaur until the sixth game of the third set when a poor forehand volley that flew wide left him serving under pressure at 2-3 15-30.

A beautifully struck crosscourt backhand from De Minaur generated two break points and a winning forehand return put him two games from victory.

There was still time for the blood pressure to rise as De Minaur found himself break point down serving for it at 5-4, but he steadied himself impressively to keep his dream alive of a maiden major title on home soil.

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