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Alex de Minaur insists he’s ready for what’s next after shifting up a gear to motor into the Australian Open second week and set up a potential fourth-round blockbuster with nine-times champion Novak Djokovic.
De Minaur dominated Benjamin Bonzi from the get-go and raced to a 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 6-1 victory after breaking the Frenchman’s resistance in a first-set tiebreaker.
Dazzling the Rod Laver Arena crowd with his speed and energy, Australia’s 22nd seed broke Bonzi seven times throughout the two-hour, eight-minute mismatch to set the stage for a likely Monday night showdown with Djokovic.
The Serbian superstar will play Grigor Dimitrov later on Saturday night, a hot favourite to claim a 37th consecutive win in Australia since his last defeat against Hyeon Chung in the third round of the 2018 Open.
Alex de Minaur. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
After easing to a four-set second-round win over Adrian Mannarino, de Minaur looked a man on a mission against Bonzi.
He hammered 33 winners, fashioned a total of 22 break points and closed out his final service game to love with his seventh and eighth aces in a clinical display.
“I’m very happy, I can’t lie,” de Minaur told the centre-court crowd.
“Ultimately, if you want to go deep, and you want to really take it to the best players in the world, that’s the game plan.
“I mean, you’ve got to step it up. It’s no secret that against the best in the world you can’t just put the ball in the court and wait for them to miss because that’s just not going to happen.”
De Minaur and Djokovic have yet to clash but, should their showstopper materialise at Melbourne Park, the home hope will be brimming with belief after beating dethroned champion Rafael Nadal for the first time at the season-opening United Cup in Sydney.
“These are the matches you want to be playing,” de Minaur said. “You don’t want a walkover into the final of a slam. You want to be playing the best in the world.
“That’s what I’ve got. I’m going to probably have the best in the world in front of me – and I’m ready for the battle. I want to take it to them and show what I’m made of in the biggest of stages and just test myself out there and really take it to them.”
De Minaur holds a 2-1 head-to-head lead over Dimitrov, including a last-start win over the Bulgarian in Toronto in August, but also knows what a dangerous proposition the former world No.3 can be.
“Grigor, he’s up there with one of the most talented players on tour,” he said. “His top level is exceptional. He makes tennis look very, very easy.
“If I play Grigor, I’ve got to know that he’s going to play some incredible tennis. I’ve just got to be very tough mentally and just try to stick to my game, try to be as solid as I can and take any little opportunity I can get.”
Novak Djokovic has defended himself on social media after being accused of ‘pulling rank’ when nature called during his recent Australian Open match.
After leaving the court during the opening set to use the bathroom – which is against the rules – broadcaster Eurosport tweeted: “Novak Djokovic defied the umpire to take an early bathroom break in his first match at the Australian Open (eyes emoji)” while commentator Mark Petchey suggested he was using his status and “pulling rank”.
There was also frustration from the Channel Nine commentators. Tennis legend John Fitzgerald questioned: “He needs to go to the toilet? After five games?”
Aussie doubles great Mark Woodford implied that Djokovic may have been “pulling rank”: “Well I think he’s actually just pulled rank there as well. I think the official was trying to pull him back.”
“He’s just run off the court,” replied Fitzgerald.
“He’s gone off without permission, it seems. I mean, 3-2 in the first set?”
With players not allowed to take a bathroom break in between games, the world No. 5 was quick to defend himself after the match on social media, taking a swipe at Eurosport’s spin on the situation.
He posted: “Eurosport please get your information checked before you post something judgmental and wrong.”
He then added a follow-up response: “Chair umpire allowed me to go to toilet but she told me I don’t have toilet break, just change over break.
“So she told me (you didn’t capture that with camera) I had to hurry up.
“When I almost exited the court she called me (I didn’t hear) and it was to tell me that toilet was on the opposite side of the court.
“I found one where I went also, and I had to be quick because of the time. I didn’t “defy” her or the rules.
“She gave me permission and told me to be quick. Next time be mindful with what you post. You have responsibility towards many sport fans that follow your page @eurosport.”
Former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova feels like she’s slowly warming to the task after storming into the Australian Open second week for the first time in four years.
Runner-up to Ash Barty in the 2021 Wimbledon final, Pliskova pounded down six aces and bossed Varvara Gracheva from the back in a 6-4 6-2 dispatch of the Russian on Saturday.
“My serve, it can be a really good weapon … and I’m not doing as much running from the baseline,” 30-year-old Pliskova said.
The WTA’s perennial annual ace leader will play either American qualifier Katie Volynets or China’s 23rd seed Zhang Shuai for a place in the quarter-finals.
Dangerous floater Donna Vekic also progressed to the fourth round on day five, matching her effort from 2021, with a 6-2 6-2 disposal of Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz.
Vekic has reached the last 16 of all four slams but, finally injury-free again, has a golden opportunity to secure a maiden quarter-final berth in Melbourne.
“I am really happy with my match today. I love this court. The last time I was here two years ago I had a lot of pain in my knee so I am happy to be walking out on this court playing free today,” the Croatian said.
The 26-year-old world No.64 lost to eventual runner-up Jennifer Brady two years ago.
On Monday, Vekic is certain to play an unseeded Czech – either former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova or teenage ace Linda Fruhvirtova.
Emerging star Sebastian Korda has knocked dual runner-up Daniil Medvedev out of the Australian Open with a dazzling straight-sets upset.
The 22-year-old American claimed a rollercoaster first set that went for 85 minutes and included six breaks on Friday to set up the 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) triumph on Rod Laver Arena.
Medvedev, who was beaten in the last two Australian Open finals, was simply outplayed by the tenacious Korda in their third-round clash. The son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr, Korda continues his rise through the ranks with the biggest win of his career, advancing to the fourth round for the third time at a grand slam.
The 29th seed will meet Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in a final-16 clash.
“Probably one of the better matches I’ve played in my career,” Korda said.
“Just stuck with the game plan, kept going after it.
No matter what happened, kept pushing forward.”
The result came as a shock but Korda has started 2023 in outstanding form, pushing 21-time major winner Novak Djokovic to three sets in the Adelaide International final.It is just Korda’s second appearance at Melbourne Park, having been beaten in the third round last year.
Korda’s prodigious sporting family have a rich history in Australia. As well as Petr winning his only major 25 years ago and mum Regina Rajchrtova being a Czech tennis Olympian, Sebastian claimed the junior title in 2018 and both his sisters, Jessica and Nelly, have both won the Australian Open in golf.
“It’s a special place for us. We’ve had some really great results,” Korda said.
Medvedev, a former world No.1, continues his search for a second grand slam to add to his 2021 US Open title.
After losing to Rafael Nadal in last year’s decider at Melbourne Park when up by two sets, Medvedev has failed to move past the fourth round in the three grand slams he has contested since.
“Right now, I’m a little bit struggling to win these kind of matches against opponents that can play good level. That’s what I have to find back,” Medvedev said.
Greek star Maria Sakkari has become the latest women’s seed to crash out of the Australian Open, suffering a three-set, third-round upset at the hands of China’s Zhu Lin.
World No.87 Zhu fought her way to a tough 7-6 (7-3) 1-6 6-4 win to celebrate Chinese New Year in fine style and set up a showdown with two-time champion Victoria Azarenka in the last 16.
A rollercoaster encounter took twists and turns to the end, with Zhu converting a third break point to take a 5-4 lead in the third set before she served out the match after more than two-and-a-half hours.
“Am I in a dream? Words can’t describe how I feel right now,” Zhu said after the biggest win of her career.
“I want to thank my team and thank you all for pushing me today to become a better player.”
Zhu’s first win over a top-10 opponent took her into the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time.
The 28-year-old’s previous best results had been second-round appearances at Wimbledon (2021) and the US Open (2019).
“I have to believe in myself,” Zhu said.
“I have the ability to be able to play at this high level and I need to just work hard every day.
“Who knows what’s going to happen? You never know.”
Meanwhile, concerns over a hamstring injury won’t hold back Djokovic when he confronts his “Balkan brother” Grigor Dimitrov in the headline act of third-round action on day six of the Australian Open.
Djokovic’s stocks have risen at Melbourne Park as he ramps up his pursuit of a 10th Open crown, following the shock exits of top two seeds Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud.
But the Serbian superstar was troubled by his sore left hamstring during a second-round win over Enzo Couacaud and has been limited in his preparation.
He has spent most of his time between matches focusing on rehabilitation, rather than practice, working with medical staff around the clock.
Next up is a clash with familiar Bulgarian Dimitrov, who Djokovic has beaten in nine of 10 previous encounters.
The pair last met in Paris in 2019 and have never done battle in Melbourne, with Dimitrov’s only triumph over Djokovic coming on Madrid clay almost a decade ago.
“Hopefully it’s going to be an entertaining match,” Djokovic said after dispatching French qualifier Couacaud.
“He’s been playing some great tennis, I know him really well.
(Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
“We’re good friends off the court, Balkan brothers, so let the better player win.”
Djokovic was one of a host of players affected when extreme heat and rain wreaked havoc on the schedule early this week.
It created a backlog of matches that had to be crammed into the schedule, many late at night.
Djokovic’s third-round commitments didn’t finish until well after midnight on Friday morning.
“That’s obviously something that you just have to accept and deal with,” he said.
“I mean, it’s best-of-five for us guys.
“Yeah, it’s not perfect that when you finish a match (at about midnight) and then you have to do recovery, so forth, and you go to sleep, 3, 4, 5am.
“It affects recovery and the next day. The good thing is you have a day between the matches, on a positive note.”
In Saturday’s other matches, Australian hopes Alexei Popyrin and Alex De Minaur, the 22nd seed, take on American Ben Shelton and France’s Benjamin Bonzi respectively.
Seeds Andrey Rublev (five) and Dan Evans (25) do battle, while Andy Murray takes on Roberto Bautista Agut (24) after his epic five-set win over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Women’s seeds Aryna Sabalenka (five) and Elise Mertens (26) meet in an intriguing contest and Belinda Bencic (12) takes on Camila Giorgi.
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