Alex de Minaur races into Open fourth round

Jan 19, 2024, 05:33 AM ET

Alex de Minaur is carving out his own slice of Australian Open history, becoming the first local man in almost 20 years to make the second week of the Melbourne Grand Slam for three straight years.

De Minaur was in a different league to Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli, living up to his top-10 billing in a 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory on John Cain Arena on Friday night.

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The home hope was watched in the stands by former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, his Davis Cup captain and idol who completed the round-of-16 hat-trick back in 2005.

That year, Hewitt charged all the way to the final — and de Minaur’s hot run has raised hopes he can too.

Also the first Aussie man since Hewitt in 2006 to gate-crash the world’s top 10 following a sizzling start to the year, de Minaur will play the winner of Friday’s late clash between American Sebastian Korda and Russian Andrey Rublev.

That showdown is scheduled for Sunday night with de Minaur will gun for his first quarter-final berth at Melbourne Park.

After claiming three top-10 scalps — including top-ranked Novak Djokovic — at the season-opening United Cup, facing world No.5 Rublev won’t faze the local favourite.

Adding more power to his blistering pace, de Minaur has evolved from the player who fell to Djokovic and current world No.4 Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the past two years of the Open.

The Australian wrapped up the first set with an ace, taking just 39 minutes, while the second was a tougher contest despite the same scoreline, with de Minaur needing 57 minutes to take a two-set lead.

Making his Open debut and playing in just his second ever grand slam world No.100 Cobolli didn’t play too badly but the 21-year-old was unable to match de Minaur when it mattered.