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The 26-year-old cut a forlorn figure in the player gym afterwards, with his coach Adolfo Gutierrez and the rest of his team surrounding him as he came to terms with his Australian Open being over for another year.
He entered the last-eight clash in career-best form, but the size of his challenge was apparent when Alcaraz crushed seven winners inside the first three games, a menacing introduction that even the Spaniard referenced post-match as a “great level”.
De Minaur’s first winner did not come until the sixth game. By night’s end, he had 16, accompanied by 29 unforced errors. Alcaraz had 26 and 32, respectively – but even that did not tell the full story.
“When I played [Alcaraz] in the exhibition just before the tournament, I thought his level was freakishly good. Tonight was pretty similar,” he said.
“I mean, especially in those night conditions, he’s so strong. He’s able to generate so much force, and his unforced errors almost disappear… I’m probably hitting the ball bigger than I’ve hit previously in these types of matches, but I’m still not able to hit through him.”
De Minaur did not help his cause by making only one of his opening seven first serves, which led to him handing over an immediate break.
Alcaraz raced to an ominous 3-0 start before the match took a twist. As the Spaniard came down from his sky-high standard across the first 10 minutes, de Minaur found a momentary foothold in the contest.
He toughed out a service hold – the only way to do it on a night when pressure was a constant – and that triggered the Australian’s best stretch of play. De Minaur refused to step far behind the baseline and that enabled him to rush Alcaraz and finally force some errors, which helped him snatch back the break.
He made it to 3-3, which caused pandemonium in Rod Laver Arena, and he even restricted Alcaraz to 0-30 in the next game.
But Alcaraz’s uncanny ability to thrive in those moments is part of why he is a six-time grand slam champion. He vigorously urged himself on after surviving that game, knowing it was a critical moment.
Alcaraz again went up a break, and served for the first set at 5-3, only for de Minaur to produce his best game of the match. He sprinted down a drop shot, then put away Alcaraz’s lob attempt to bring up two break points, and on the second of them, ripped a superb down-the-line backhand winner.
This was the fearless tennis both de Minaur and his coaches have wanted. But it still was not enough because Alcaraz always had an answer.
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De Minaur fell in a 0-40 hole in the 12th game while trying to force a tiebreak, and won the next two points before missing a makeable forehand off the net tape. He muttered towards his team, then tossed the ball in his pocket away in disgust.
De Minaur’s best chance had come and gone, which was rammed home when Alcaraz twice more wriggled out of 0-30 games to start the second set, either side of breaking his rival in a tense struggle.
He was forever chasing from then, unable to quite match the brilliance of Alcaraz, who seemed to find another gear whenever he wanted to.
“In terms of mentality, or the way I committed to hitting the ball today, it’s what I set out to do. I just didn’t really execute it for the whole match,” de Minaur said.
“There were some good parts out there, but overall, I’m playing out of my comfort zone and, at times, out of my skin. For me to take that next step, I’ve got to be comfortable in playing that sort of way for the whole match, and that’s what it takes to [go] to the next level – especially against these types of guys.”
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