STANDALONE local hope Alex de Minaur has become the first Australian man to reach the quarter-finals of his home slam after dispatching American Alex Michelsen in straight sets, 6-0, 7-6, 6-3 last night. The eighth seed sent a packed out Rod Laver Arena into raptures having won in just over two hours.

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“It means the world,” De Minaur said post-match. “There’s nothing I want to do more than to play well here in Australia front of you guys. I’m glad I finally made it to the quarter-finals here, but let’s go for bigger and better things.”

After a fourth consecutive final 16 appearance at Melbourne Park, de Minaur broke through to qualify for his maiden home quarter-final. He has now done so at all four majors and will next take on world number one Jannik Sinner, whom he is yet to beat in nine head-to-head meetings.

de Minaur signalled his intentions in a 27-minute first set, taking it to love as his 20-year-old opponent racked up many of his 50 total unforced errors. The Australian went on to win the first eight games of the match, before Michelsen eventually got on the board after 41 minutes on-court.

The world number 42 found a groove to push the second set to a tiebreaker having broken de Minaur at 5-3 down. It was to no avail as the local hope put the missed opportunity behind him to prevail, and proved much more clinical in the third set, taking it 6-3.

“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,” de Minaur said.

“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.”

The result ends Michelsen’s giant killing run which began by defeating 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. He also toppled 19th seed Karen Khachanov to advance to the fourth round and has a prospering career to look forward to having only turned pro in 2023.

Earlier on day nine, Sinner battled the stifling Melbourne heat to get past young gun Holger Rune in four sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The elements seemed to get the better of the Italian at times, but he dug deep after length medical timeouts to find a way to win.

“It was for sure very, very tough,” Sinner said. “I knew in my mind that also he had some very long matches, so I tried to stay there mentally. I tried to stay connected with my service game and then in return games see what happened.”

The Sinner-de Minaur matchup sets up a favourable semi-final draw against either 21st seed Ben Shelton or unseeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who also progressed yesterday. On the other side, a mouthwatering quarter-final bout sees 10-time champion Novak Djokovic take on four-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz.

>> DAY EIGHT: Djoker digs in heels at Aus Open

AUSTRALIAN OPEN MEN’S RESULTS: DAY NINE

J. Sinner [1] def. H. Rune [13] 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
A. de Minaur [8] def. A. Michelsen 6-0, 7-6, 6-3
B. Shelton [21] def. G. Monfils 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (RET)
L. Sonego def. L. Tien [Q] 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

QUARTER FINALS DRAW

J. Sinner [1] vs. A. de Minaur [8]
B. Shelton [21] vs. L. Sonego
N. Djokovic [7] vs. C. Alcaraz [3]
T. Paul [12] vs. A. Zverev [2]