Djokovic thrashes De Minaur to advance to 4th consecutive quarterfinal at Australian Open
ATP
It's never easy to play an Australian at the first major of the season in Melbourne, but Novak Djokovic showed that it isn't a problem for him.
The 35-year-old Serbian took on the 22nd-seeded Alex de Minaur in the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open. The Australian was confident ahead of their meeting, but early into their match, the 21-time Grand Slam champion showed him a few reasons why everyone fears him when he steps onto the court at the Rod Laver Arena.
The two had never met before, but only three weeks ago, De Minaur stunned Rafael Nadal at the United Cup, and he wanted to cause a similar upset also in Melbourne.
But his more experienced opponent didn't allow that. Both came into this match in solid form, having lost only one set in the previous three rounds. Coincidentally, both lost the second set of their second-round match to a Frenchman.
De Minaur bested Hsu Yu-hsiou, Adrian Mannarino, and Benjamin Bonzi, while Djokovic outplayed Roberto Carballes Baena, Enzo Couacaud, and Grigor Dimitrov to reach this fourth-round match.
Both players started the match with a few solid holds of serve, but then Djokovic started a one-man show. He went on to win nine consecutive games, and before De Minaur realized it, the score was 6-2, 6-1 in just an hour and 16 minutes of play.
The Australian needed something special in the third set, but he couldn't deliver it. He just narrowly avoided a bagel again, and despite his best efforts, Djokovic dominated the third set to win the match 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in a bit more than two hours.
It was an incredibly dominant performance from Djokovic, who will look already to his quarter-final match. In the next round, he will take on the fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev, who won despite facing two match points against Holger Rune.
