Alex De Minaur continued his return to form in impressive fashion after being sidelined with injury all summer, beating an ailing Dan 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-0, 6 · Evans, back in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Saturday night, New York-0.
With this victory, De Minaur became the first Australian Open player since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 to reach the fourth round of four Grand Slam tournaments in one calendar year. The third Australian player joins Alexei Popyrin, who defeated Novak Djokovic on Friday night, and his next opponent Jordan Thompson.
While De Minaur’s ambitions extend beyond just making it into week two, it’s a particularly impressive result considering the summer trials he endured. De Minaur has not played since suffering an injury on match point in the fourth round at Wimbledon, an injury that forced him to withdraw ahead of his quarter-final match against Djokovic and sidelined him to the United States Open. There was a huge amount of uncertainty surrounding his hip when the game started.
“Obviously, not playing tennis and not competing is tricky,” he said. “There’s definitely that aspect to it, but it’s definitely mentally tiring. It’s not easy for me. A lot of times I feel like I’m hitting a wall and it’s not getting better. So in that sense, it’s tough – not fighting Tennis, nor tournaments.
De Minaur remained cautious at the start of the match, including choosing not to skate on the hard courts to ensure he did not further injure his fragile hip. But he’s looking more and more comfortable with each game, and against Evans he was sharp from the start. He handled Evans’ tricky chip shots well and controlled many exchanges by getting the ball early and sealing off the net.
Although Evans recovered well in the second set and played well in the tie-break to level the match, the physicality required to consistently get the ball past De Minaur left the 34-year-old behind imprint. Evans was in trouble as soon as the third set began. Leading 3-0 in the set, he received a medical timeout for his hip, and his condition gradually worsened until he could barely move in the fourth set. Despite limping for long periods of time, Evans refused to retire and kept playing to the end.
“I think the first thing I should show is a lot of respect for Dan,” De Minaur said. “He was the ultimate competitor. He could have easily quit, obviously not feeling well physically, but he stayed in there and tried his best, so I’m really grateful.
Evans’ match began with an incredible first-round performance as he defeated No. 23 seed Karen Khachanov after trailing 0-4, 15-40 in the fifth set, a match that later It became the longest match in U.S. Open history. But the five hours and 35 minutes Evans spent on the court in the first round took its toll. Although he was efficient in his second-round victory against Mariano Navone, the physicality required against De Minaur left him in trouble.
Even though he failed, it was still a much needed game for the Englishman. He arrived in New York after an extremely difficult year, during which he battled multiple serious injuries, most recently a knee injury at Queen’s University, and poor form caused him to drop significantly in the rankings. After the US Open, Evans’ ATP ranking was still around 170. He had no choice but to return to the ATP Challenger League and Grand Slam Qualifying Tournament. But his performance shows he can still compete at a high level.
“Of course, part of me is hurt,” Evans said. “I imagined I had a chance against the devil [De Minaur]but this is not the case. The draw was brilliant, it’s something I’ve been waiting for a long time to see, but I wasn’t good enough. I’ll probably sleep pretty well for the next four or five days and it’ll be over pretty quickly. It’s been an amazing week. I came to America with no expectations and a lot of doubts, but I left with a clear understanding that I could still do this at a higher level, not the highest level, but a higher level.
For De Minaur, next Monday will be a fourth-round match against his good friend Thompson. Thompson defeated No. 30 seed Matteo Arnaldi on Saturday. “Australian tennis is great, we just showed what we can do,” De Minaur said. “We’re putting ourselves in the final stretch of the tournament and it looks like, it’s a good problem to have. It’s exciting. We grew up together. Well, I grew up with him and we played a lot. I’m expecting an absolute battle.
On Saturday night, top seed Iga Swiatek defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2 and easily advanced to the fourth round; men’s fifth seed Daniil Medvedev Defeated Flavio Coboli 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
