Shouted out his joy after triumphing over Australian Open – After a dark year in Grand Slam, the Blues to the revival: "There are encouraging signs"”>Alex De Minaur: Jannik Sinner. © APA / afp / PAUL CROCK
Jannik Sinner remains a red rag for Alex De Minaur. The Australian had to admit defeat to the South Tyrolean on the third attempt as well. While Sinner is in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time, the last local hero has said goodbye to the Grand Slam tournament.
January 24, 2022
From: cst
The round of 16 match in Melbourne was the third time that Alex De Minaur and Jannik Sinner (NextGen 2019 and Sofia 2020) met. The Australian, who has Uruguayan and Spanish roots, was defeated both times. And that’s how it was on Monday in Melbourne, when a Sinner who was in extremely good form put number 42 in the world rankings in three sets (7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 3, 6: 4) in their place.
The match between 22-year-old De Minaur and Sinner, who is two years younger, was of a high standard and quite entertaining from the start. Whipped up by the frenetic crowd in the Rod Laver Arena, things went back and forth, and the rallies often ended with spectacular point wins. De Minaur showed he will be a tough nut to crack in front of home fans. But there was one thing that didn’t happen in the first set: a break. And so the tie-break had to be used to decide the first set after 71 minutes in favor of Sinner.
Started off really strong but waned as the game progressed: Alex De Minaur. © APA / afp / PAUL CROCK
While De Minaur had to pay tribute to the extremely high pace in the first set, Sinner continued to step on the gas. Finally, the sextner was able to convert the second breakball in the second set and pull away to 2-0. The Australian, on the other hand, looked battered and suddenly made simple mistakes. Although De Minaur recovered from this low, the rebreak didn’t materialize and so the second set clearly went to Sinner 6:3.
De Minaur less aggressive, Sinner follows suit
The next low blow for De Minaur followed immediately. Again he gave up his first service game in a new set. He now seemed much less aggressive in his game and, after just losing points, began to quarrel with himself and Sinner’s strength. Again and again De Minaur looked in disbelief in the direction of the stands or shook his head. Sinner, on the other hand, didn’t give up and finally fended off De Minaur’s last attack, which made the rebreak to 2: 4. After a little more than two and a half hours, the South Tyrolean won the match due to a mistake by his opponent.
Jannik Sinner hardly showed any weaknesses in the round of 16 – neither mentally nor physically. © APA / afp / MARTIN KEEP
For Sinner, the victory over De Minaur is another milestone in his career. For the second time in total – and for the first time in Melbourne – the South Tyrolean is in a Grand Slam quarterfinals. In 2020 he lost to Rafael Nadal in Paris. At this year’s Australia Open, Sinner can meet the Spaniard in the final at the earliest. Before that, however, is the round of the last eight players. There Sinner is dealing with either the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (ATP 4) or the American Taylor Fritz (ATP 22).
