Alex de Minaur defeated his good friend Jordan Thompson in a spectacular fourth round match at the US Open, an all-Australian event, to achieve another milestone in his fantastic Grand Slam season.
De Minaur put his friendship aside and ended Thompson’s combative campaign with a hard-fought 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory to become the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt 20 years ago to reach three successive Grand Slam quarter-finals.
His value rising with each win, the No. 10 will face England’s world number 25 Jack Draper on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) in an Ashes-style battle for a coveted place in the last four.
After arriving in New York under a fitness cloud and with “low expectations”, De Minaur has regained the faith and form to quietly challenge for the title.
Moving freely and showing no signs of the hip injury that derailed his Wimbledon and Olympic dreams, De Minaur showed little mercy to his childhood friend and Davis Cup teammate on Monday.
Thompson fought tooth and nail, threatening to drag the match into a deciding set before de Minaur’s class and ruthlessness finally got the better of him. Thompson was reduced to bouncing his racket around the court in frustration as he endured the ignominy of a first-set bagel.
And even after Thompson finally won a game and then came back from a 40-0 deficit to take the second set, De Minaur didn’t flinch and quickly got back to work on Labor Day in America.
The Frenchman, a Wimbledon and now US Open quarter-finalist, regained the lead and took a two-sets-to-one lead. Thompson came under further criticism in his penalty area as he felt the match slipping out of his hands.
With a last-ditch stand, Thompson broke early in the fourth set to raise hopes of a famous underdog comeback. But there was nothing friendly about De Minaur who hit back immediately before finally subduing Thompson after a seesaw four-break fourth set to take victory after two hours and 57 minutes.
“I have so much respect for ‘Thommo’. We grew up together. He’s been like a big brother to me,” De Minaur said. “So I really appreciate everything he’s done for me and he’s a great competitor, my Davis Cup teammate and I can’t wait to share the court with him many, many times.”
Despite all the heroics of Thompson and Novak Djokovic’s thrower Alexei Popyrin in the first week, De Minaur is once again the last Australian standing at the final major tournament of the season.
The standard-bearer’s feat of three consecutive Grand Slam titles is one that eluded even former world No. 1 Ash Barty and former US Open women’s champion Samantha Stosur during their distinguished careers.
No Australian has done it since Hewitt in 2004-05. The two-time major winner followed last-eight stints at Roland Garros and Wimbledon with back-to-back finals at Flushing Meadows and Melbourne Park.
After becoming the first Australian since Hewitt 20 years ago to reach the second week of all four majors in a single calendar year, De Minaur will now be hoping to emulate his 2004 Davis Cup captain’s feat by reaching Sunday’s final.
He has a golden opportunity, as De Minaur has won all three previous meetings with Draper, including the last two on hard court.
If he can continue his rise through the draw, De Minaur will face either world number 1 Jannik Sinner, 2021 US Open winner Daniil Medvedev or 14th-seeded Tommy Paul in his first Grand Slam semi-final.
For Thompson, it is the end of his career, but the 30-year-old leaves the Big Apple with half a million dollars in earnings and a 29th place in the world rankings, his highest ever. That puts him on course for a first Grand Slam tournament qualification at the Australian Open in January.