IN THE all-Australian fourth round clash, 10th seed Alex de Minaur became the last green and gold man standing after a four-set victory over Jordan Thompson. After Alexei Popyrin was eliminated the day before, the only two Australians headed onto Louis Armstrong Stadium with the victor to face 25th seed Jack Draper in the next round.

After Draper dropped just six games en route to a one-hour and 42-minute demolition of Czech Tomas Machac, the second match looked likely to go the same way early as de Minaur won the opening set in a bagel. Though his first serve efficiency was horrible (29 per cent), de Minaur still won 13 of 17 points on serve, while producing eight winners to Thompson’s one and quickly wrapping up the first set in 28 minutes.

The 32nd ranked Thompson was not going to throw in the towel though, with the Aussie able to break de Minaur in the sixth game of the second set and then eventually serve out the set for 6-3 to level the match.

Unsurprisingly de Minaur was able to regain the momentum in the third, breaking Thompson in the sixth game to take the set 6-3 and go two sets to one up. Then, after the pair of players went head-to-head throughout the fourth set, de Minaur rose at level in the 11th game, creating two break points and collecting on the second when Thompson missed a forehand volley.

From there the 10th seed held his nerve to serve out the match and win 6-0 3-6 6-3 7-5 in two hours and 57 minutes to book his spot in the quarter finals. It will be his third consecutive major quarter finals after achieving the feat in both Paris and London this year.

“It’s just a mentality,” de Minaur said post-match. “Positive mindset no matter what. I try to play every point, I try to win every point and, as always, compete my heart out.”

The victory meant de Minaur improved his 2024 season record to 40-12 and 16-3 at Grand Slams, having never lost to Draper in three meetings including at Acapulco in February.

“It’s a completely different ball game, as he’s been playing some great tennis all year,” de Minaur said. “I’m expecting a battle. He’s very tricky. I’m going to do my best, compete my heart out, and we’ll see what happens.”

In the other fourth round matches, world number one Jannik Sinner shook off local hope Tommy Paul after two tiebreakers to win 7-6 7-6 6-1 and book his spot into the quarter finals. He will take on fifth seed and past US Open winner Daniil Medvedev who completely dismantled Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-0 6-1 6-3.