Alex de Minaur falls short against rising Italian star Jannik Sinner

Joshua Mayne

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Alex de Minaur falls short against rising Italian star Jannik Sinner image

Alex de Minaur is out of the Australian Open following a fourth round loss against Jannik Sinner.

The No. 11 seed was too strong for the Australian, powering to a straight-sets result of 7-6(3) 6-3 6-4. 

A tiebreak was required to separate the pair in the first set before Sinner pulled away in a dominant second set performance.

De Minaur broke the Italian's serve midway through the third set but ultimately could not claw back from his opponent's earlier two breaks.

Sinner was able to calmly serve out the match and now moves into the quarter-finals of the tournament. 

The result marks the 20-year-old's best performance yet at the Australian Open, reaching the second and first round in 2020 and 2021 respectively. 

It also equals his best performance at a major, following his quarter-final appearance at Roland Garros as a debutant in 2020.

The Italian will now face the winner of Taylor Fritz vs Stefanos Tsitsipas, with a spot in the semi-finals on the line.

 

Jannik Sinner

Speaking to Channel 9 after the match, he acknowledged how challenging it was to play against de Minaur.

"I think in the beginning I was serving well," Sinner said.

"He [de Minaur] had more chances than me in the first set.

"After, I tried to push a little bit more ...  especially in the tie-break first point which made maybe a little bit of a difference.

"And then I went into my confidence.

"After I played a little bit stronger, I tried to move him a little bit.

"It is very tough playing against Alex especially here in Australia, he always plays very well, and obviously thank you for coming out because it is a great atmosphere."

 

 

De Minaur played a strong game all things considered, but could not cope with the consistency and strong serving of his opponent. 

However, he was able to secure a career-best performance at the Australian Open, reaching the fourth round for the first time.

The Australian exited at the third round last time out, with his confidence now undoubtedly growing.

Joshua Mayne

Joshua Mayne Photo

Joshua Mayne is a content producer for The Sporting News Australia based in Sydney, Australia. He has previously worked as a newsreader at 2SER and journalist at Ministry of Sport. While Joshua’s main passions are football, rugby league, basketball and F1, he will watch any sport that's on. He is still waiting for Arsenal to win the Premier League again.