Newcomer Alex De Minaur sailed through the first week of the Australian Open with ease as he defeated qualifier Flavio Coboli at the John Cain Arena on Friday night.
The No. 10 seed was challenged at times by the 21-year-old upstart, who had to win five matches at Melbourne Park to reach this stage, but the Australian proved too much with a 6-3, 6-3, 6- Stable. 1 win in 128 minutes.
De Minaur’s third-round win was his second consecutive against the Italian, taking his winning streak to seven sets after losing to big-server Milos Raonic in the first round on Monday.
“I’m happy, maybe I was a little nervous during the game,” De Minaur said. “But I’m happy to advance, and in week two, it feels like the games are really starting to get going.”
After de Minaur beat 41st-ranked Analdi in straight sets on Wednesday, Coboly has provided the agile Australian with a different kind of opponent.
They had never met, but De Minaur seemed to have done his homework. The Australian described Coboli before the game as being a bit like Analdi with “firepower”.
De Minaur caught up with him almost from the start and led 3-2 in the first set.
But the son of a former pro ranked No. 237, showing he deserves the stage. Analdi didn’t win the Australian’s serve until the fifth to last game. Coboley did just that in Game 7, sending the Melbourne Park crowd into silence.
“He’s a great competitor and he showed his ability throughout the tournament, getting through qualifying and reaching the third round, beating seeded players and great players, and I have a lot of respect for him,” De Minaur said. explain.
However, as the game progressed, the Australians’ strength gradually became apparent. He held the first set and seemed to be in the lead early in the second.
But the Italians are full of fighting spirit. He had already survived qualifying at Melbourne Park, knocking out 18th seed Nicolas Jarry in the first round.
Coboli nearly broke De Minaur in the second set, but the Italian held his ground as the Aussie tried to prove himself. He faced the world’s tenth-ranked player and nearly 10,000 local fans at John Cain Arena, but for once he refused to be beaten.
With the score at 1-1, the Italian’s serve scored an astonishing 23 points in 17 minutes. De Minaur responded with a howitzer on the break point, only to hit it wide. The Italians made a desperate save. Excellent pickup.
Throughout, all the rowdy fans disrespected his resistance. These are two renditions of all four verses of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.” Even the referee was starting to lose patience.
Coboli eventually lost the game and his chances dwindled. He was unable to convert any of four break points late in the second set, which was the Australian’s.
His hard work — on Friday and over the next two weeks — seemed to make him better. The final set flew by after a medical timeout, but he walked away smiling, clearly satisfied with his best Grand Slam performance.
For the Australians, the biggest test is coming. He will face fifth seed Andrei Rublev or 29th seed Sebastian Korda in the next round.
He still has to improve, especially against the Italian, where his first-server success rate was only 52%.
“This is where I want to be, this is where the end of the tournament starts, the second week of the Grand Slam,” De Minaur said.
“I’ve always been told that the first week of a Grand Slam is to finish the way you want to, and the second week is when you start playing real tennis.”
