Andrey Rublev broke Aussie hearts on a dramatic night in Rod Laver Arena as he defeated Alex De Minaur 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0 in a pulsating encounter to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Defeat for De Minaur meant the end of Australian singles hopes for another year as the country’s 48-year wait for a first male home winner at Melbourne Park goes on.
Rublev, meanwhile, reaches his tenth Grand Slam quarter-final having fallen in the last eight in all nine of his previous attempts.
marathon encounter delivers on expectations
It was an epic contest spanning four hours and 14 minutes.
The pair exchanged breaks early in the first set, before De Minaur handed Rublev a second break and the set with an untimely double-fault on set point down at 5-4.
The second was a very close affair, with both players generating chances to break serve but neither able to convert their opportunities. De Minaur twice pushed Rublev to the brink only for the Russian to find his first serve and some blistering groundstrokes to keep his serve intact.
A tiebreak was required and, with the vocal support of a partisan home crowd, De Minaur stepped up to take it 7-5 and level up the match.
The Australian then carried that momentum into the third stanza, breaking Rublev in his opening service game while holding serve either side to move into a 3-0 lead.
All went on serve from there until the ninth game of the set. With De Minaur serving for a two-sets-to-one lead, the Australian tightened up, handing Rublev the break back with a double-fault on the Russian’s second break point.
But De Minaur was not to be denied a set during which he had played the cleaner tennis of the two. A breaker was required, with the Australian taking it 7-4 to the rapturous delight of the Melbourne crowd after some loose returning from Rublev.
de minaur fades in the fifth as rublev fights back
The Russian then moved an early break up in the fourth before De Minaur hit back in the fifth game to restore parity. But Rublev broke straight back again as the fourth set see-sawed between two excellent returners.
Serve prevailed for the rest of the set as the world No 5 served out for a 6-3 win to take the match into a deserved decider.
From there, Rublev wasn’t in the mood to let up, moving a double break up in the blink of an eye as De Minaur’s intensity dropped off considerably. The Russian then broke for a third time to move into an unassailable 5-0 lead as De Minaur’s trademark athleticism began to fade.
The final game wasn’t straightforward for Rublev, though, as he was forced to fend off three break points before finally getting over the line on his second match point to seal an epic win.
“First of all, I want to say ‘amazing match’ to Alex,” Rublev said in his on-court interview.
“Two days ago, I said I hope we’re going to show a great match and spectators will enjoy. Now I have regrets about that.
“I didn’t expect it to be that enjoyable. When I was losing two sets to one down, I told myself you’re going to die today but you will do everything.
“Then somehow I started to play better and better and I found more energy and I was able to win.
“It’s always tough to play against Alex. We played a couple of times and all of them were dramatic like now.
“He’s one of the fastest players. The way he moves with the legs and take the speed is crazy.”
Rublev’s reward for coming through a near-five hour tussle is a match-up with one of the most in-form players on tour currently in Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner.
He will need another step up in quality if he is to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final.
For now, through, Rublev can enjoy reaching yet another major quarter-final after dispatching a thoroughly difficult opponent in front of his home crowd.
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Melbourne (Grand Slam), other last 16 results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):
- Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz
- Alexander Zverev vs. Cameron Norrie
- Arthur Cazaux vs. Hubert Hurkacz
- Nuno Borges vs. Daniil Medvedev
- Jannik Sinner beat Karen Khachanov (15): 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
- Taylor Fritz (12) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (7): 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
- Novak Djokovic (1) beat Adrian Mannarino (20): 6-0, 6-0, 6-3