A heartwarming moment unfolded after Alex de Minaur claimed a 6-0 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 against American star Alex Michelsen earlier tonight.
It is the first time he has reached a quarter-final at his home slam and there was an outpouring of emotion from his family at the end of the game.
Michelelsen had gone down 3-5 but battled hard in the final game in a bid to take the match to a fourth set.
And at one stage the American secured a breakpoint, going 40-30 up in the ninth game of the third set.
Sat below us in the press box, Alex de Minaur’s mum Esther cut a nervous figure after her son had hit two errant shots, one into the net and one beyond the baseline, to go 15-30 down. But he bounced back taking the final game to deuce.
Scenes of jubilation erupted around the 14,820-capacity stadium with De Minaur’s mother, Esther, subsequently breaking into tears.
She covered her eyes as she welled up, before standing up to give a huge hug to De Minaur’s new fiancee Katie Boulter sat one row in front of her.
The pair were seen exchanging a few words as the crowd cheered the Australian home favourite’s huge victory against Michelsen.
De Minaur has now only dropped one set so far this tournament but will come up against a tough challenge in world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals.
There was another heartwarming moment during his on-court interview, with De Minaur being pressed on his recent engagement to Boulter, whose Australian Open campaign came to an end last week after she was beaten by Veronika Kudermetova.
Asked if his engagement to Boulter had anything to do with his great form in the past week, De Minaur said: ‘I don’t believe in coincidences, but when you’re happy off the court, you play some good tennis on the court.’
De Minaur notably rushed from the Rod Laver Arena to the Kia Arena after his first-round match against Botic van de Zandschulp to catch the end of Boulter’s first-round victory against Rebecca Marino, while Boulter also watched on as her beau battled his way past Francisco Cerundolo on Saturday night.
He and Sinner will go toe-to-toe in a mouthwatering match-up on Wednesday.
Should De Minaur progress, he’ll take a step closer to becoming the first home-grown star to win the Australian Open men’s singles for the first time in 49 years. Mark Edmonson was the last to achieve the feat in 1976 when the tournament was still being played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.
Reflecting on his achievement, De Minaur revealed it had felt like the ‘slam had slipped away’ from him previously.
‘I’m super happy, super happy to finally breakthrough, finally get that milestone moment here at the Australian Open,’ De Minaur said on finally making it to the quarter-finals, with this being his eighth main draw appearance in Melbourne.
‘It feels like the slam that kept on slipping away where I felt like I had a little bit of a barrier at the fourth round.
‘So it feels very good to finally break through another milestone in my career.’
The world No 8 reached the quarter finals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2024 but has never progressed past the round of eight.
‘I think I have been quite vocal about my ambitions and goals at slams. For way too long I felt like I wasn’t performing in the bigger stages in the bigger tournaments,’ he added.
‘Ultimately I knew that if I wanted to be a better player and if I wanted to be a top-10 player, these were the tournaments where I had to start performing a whole lot better.
‘I have worked really hard on myself to give myself these opportunities and chances. It hasn’t been overnight. It’s been a long process.
‘But I’m glad that I’m showing this consistency, and it’s a good feeling to have, yeah, four back-to-back quarterfinals at slams.’
More to follow…
