AN AUSSIE is into the Roland Garros men’s singles quarter finals in Paris for the first time in two decades after Alex de Minaur defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev in a come-from-behind win overnight. After dropping the first set, de Minaur only dropped six more games for the rest of the match as he crushed the world number five, 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3.

The result was the first time the world number 11 had reached a Grand Slam quarter final since the 2020 US Open. After falling short in the first set, de Minaur broke in the sixth game of the second set as he went on to win the last four games of that set to close it out 6-2.

He would only drop one game through the third set, and though Medvedev put up a fight in the fourth, the 11th seed was was able to secure another crucial break and secured the match in four sets across two hours and 49 minutes.

“I’m pretty happy, not gonna lie. It was a great match today,” de Minaur said. “Fought till the end. Managed to beat a quality opponent in a Grand Slam fourth round, which is kind of the goals that I had been setting for myself to go deeper at these events. I’m very proud of myself.”

The Australian hit a massive 51 winners (including seven aces) to Medvedev’s 27, while having two less unforced errors (40-42) in the match. It was de Minaur’s first serve that finally came together, winning 76 per cent of his points off it, and 57 per cent off his second serve. He also converted seven of 14 break points, including six of the last 10 chances.

de Minaur said it defeating a top five player at a major for the first time was just reward for effort.

“It’s pretty extraordinary,” he said. I always thought that for me to play well on the clay I needed hot, lively conditions. But this whole tournament has proven otherwise, right? It’s been a complete shock to the system, to everything I ever believed in.

“Now the toughest thing is dealing with my team, because they give me a lot of slack for me complaining all these years of my level on the clay. But now it looks like it’s one of my best Slam results. Looks like I’ve converted myself into a clay specialist.”

Next up is German fourth seed Alexander Zverev who had to fight back from a two sets to one deficit to come over the top and defeat Holger Rune in five sets. Similarly, Novak Djokovic also had to fight through a five-set epic against Argentinian 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo to face off against seventh seed Casper Ruud in the other quarter finals.

2024 ROLAND GARROS ATP ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated [23] Francisco Cerundolo (ARG) 6-1 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3
[4] Alexander Zverev (GER) defeated [13] Holger Rune (DEN) 4-6 6-1 5-7 7-6 6-2
[11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) defeated [5] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3
[7] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated [12] Taylor Fritz (USA) 7-6 3-6 6-4 6-2