The six-time major quarter-finalist is one of the tour’s most consistently excellent performers, and has failed to reach the last 16 at a grand slam just once in his past 10 attempts.
De Minaur has made no secret of his ambition to one day hold aloft the Australian Open trophy. But first he must exact revenge against world No.10 Alexander Bublik, who beat him from two sets down in the second round at Roland-Garros last year to kick-start the Kazakh’s career-best run of form.
Bublik booked the de Minaur clash with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win over Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Tiafoe tried to stage an improbable late fightback after going down a break in the third set, drawing level and threatening to extend the match into a fourth.
But one more wild forehand, off a service-box return that de Minaur barely blocked back, proved Tiafoe’s undoing after he saved four earlier break points with inspired tennis in what proved the penultimate game.
Even then, de Minaur wobbled a little with the finish line in sight, needing three match points – either side of staving off a break-back point – to complete victory in two hours and 43 minutes.
“Frances is a hell of a competitor, a hell of a player, and it was a hell of a battle, so huge respect to him,” he said.
“I played some of my best tennis in the tournament for two-and-a-half sets, and he lifted when he needed it, and he started going big. He started returning and playing with some great depth, taking the racquet out of my hand.
“I just had to manage it, and it was quite stressful at the end, but I’m very relieved that I got over the line.”
De Minaur had to absorb some early blows from Tiafoe, including staving off a pair of break points in the seventh game. The second of them was the start of de Minaur’s ascension, and a perfect encapsulation of why this contest swung in his favour.
Tiafoe rocketed a deep forehand return at him, but de Minaur somehow controlled a half-volley from just inside the baseline before the American haphazardly dragged a forehand wide.
It was far from the last time that de Minaur’s stubborn defence came to the fore. As for former world No.10 Tiafoe, he lacked the same patience and diligence with his decision-making.
De Minaur controlled proceedings from that moment until midway through the third set.
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He has an incredible knack for chasing balls down and finding ways to extend rallies and place his opponents in difficult positions. Something else de Minaur did well on Friday night was regularly being able to dictate from the baseline while shifting Tiafoe at the other end.
“I was very pleased with the way I was hitting the ball, in heavy conditions against an opponent who’s quite strong and manoeuvres the ball around very well and can easily overpower me – but that wasn’t the case today,” de Minaur said.
Tiafoe dropping the first set was a blow to his chances after such a bright start, and he was quickly in trouble early in the second.
Down break point in the third game, Tiafoe struck a brilliant inside-out backhand to get on top, but de Minaur refused to relent while performing his best impression of a windscreen wiper.
At one stage in the extraordinary 22-shot exchange, he threw up a defensive lob from the doubles alley on one side of the court before sprinting to the other and sliding fully outstretched into a forehand that miraculously landed deep and neutralised the rally.
The scene from Rod Laver Arena on Friday night.Credit: Alex Coppel
Like so many other times in the match, Tiafoe blinked first to eventually spray a down-the-line backhand wide.
It was just one point, but it encapsulated this contest perfectly.
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