Alex de Minaur, the 6th seed and the local favourite, took revenge over his nemesis and 10th seed Alexander Bublik in a round of 16 encounter at the Australian Open ‘ 26 at Melbourne.
Last year in the French Open, Alex de Minaur won the first two sets against Bublik, but the Kazakh player turned the game on its head, winning in 5 sets. Later in the year, Bublik once again got the better of Alex de Minaur at the ATP Tour Finals.
Coming into the match with two defeats to Bublik, Alex de Minaur played bravely. His return of serve was top notch. He was solid as ever from the baseline, covered the court exceptionally well and made a lot few errors. The Australian made Bublik move around the court too, which left the big Kazakh uncomfortable.
Far away from his best, Bublik made several errors and just did not have the rhythm to counter Alex de Minaur’s solid play. Bublik went for the jugular after losing the first set, but his aggressive play resulted in more errors rather than winners. And with de Minaur moving brilliantly, there was hardly any scope for the burly and tiring Bublik to break through the de Minaur stranglehold.
Alex de Minaur won 89 points against only 54 by Bublik and had 11 break points against Bublik and none against his own serve. Such was de Minaur’s dominance.
The Australian eventually triumphed in a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 emphatic display of tennis to get past Bublik in just over an hour and a half.
Alcaraz is waiting in the wings for de Minaur in the quarter finals, which is set to be a high-octane contest. The local boy would be required to play out of his skin to get the better of the powerful Alcaraz.
We shall know in a couple of days.
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