Alex de Minaur’s brilliant move after US Open crowd caught in disgraceful act towards opponent
The Aussie men’s tennis player joined Jordan Thompson and Alexei Popyrin in the fourth round in New York.
Alex de Minaur has won over the tennis world with a sporting gesture to silence the US Open crowd after an injured Dan Evans was booed in their third-round clash. De Minaur set up an all-Australian fourth-round clash with Jordan Thompson at the US Open, beating Evans 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-0 6-0.
Tennis fans and commentators were blown away by the level of play early in the match, but Evans picked up an injury in the third set and the contest completely changed. The Brit had been on court way longer than de Minaur throughout the tournament – and it showed.
De Minaur won the third and fourth sets to love, with a distraught Evans barely able to move. Rather than retire hurt and rob de Minaur of an official victory, Evans pushed through the pain to the final point. The majority of fans understood what was going on, but some decided to boo and jeer Evans in the last game of the match.
De Minaur was seen putting his finger to his lips to tell fans to be quiet, and paid tribute to Evans in his on-court interview. American tennis writer Christopher Clarey wrote on social media: “Crowd started to boo in latter stages but De Minaur put finger to his lips to shush them. Classy fellow.”
Tennis world in awe of Alex de Minaur’s ‘ridiculous’ display
After Thompson beat 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi 7-5 6-2 7-6 (7-5) to join countryman Alexei Popyrin in the fourth round, de Minaur took the court against Evans. The Australian No.1 only made his return to singles competition at the grand slam tournament, after suffering a hip injury that ruined his Wimbledon campaign. But he’s shown no lingering effects of the injury and was back to his best on Saturday night (Sunday Australian time).
De Minaur took the first set 6-3 against his British opponent on the back of a number of crazy rallies and winners that left commentators speechless. One such rally saw de Minaur prevail despite being forced all over the court, and the Aussie had no right to win it.
After de Minaur produced a sublime winner on the run, one TV commentator said: “No way. That is ridiculous.” Fans were also blown away by some of the shot-making, describing it as “insane” and “crazy”.
Evans managed to level the match when he took the second set in a breaker, although de Minaur made him work for it. The Aussie fell behind 1-6 in the tiebreak and only lost it 5-7, showing plenty of his trademark fight.
But from there it was all one-way traffic, with Evans struggling with injury and unable to move around the court. The Brit took a medical timeout midway through the third set before leaving the court for an extended break at the end of it.
De Minaur wasn’t troubled as he won the third and fourth sets to love, moving into the fourth round. It makes him the first Australian man to reach at least the fourth round at all four slams in one year since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
Alex de Minaur to face Jordan Thompson in US Open fourth round
Earlier on Saturday, Thompson claimed another big scalp to advance to the all-Australian fourth-round showdown with de Minaur. After beating World No.7 Hubert Hurkacz in the second round, Thompson took out Arnaldi to storm into the last 16 at Flushing Meadows for a second time.
“Unreal,” Thompson said on court after the win. “If he (de Minaur) gets through, it would be for sure an Aussie in the quarters. I hope that it is me. I will be recovering. I won’t be looking on. I’ll leave that to my coach.”
Thompson’s win came just 24 hours after Popyrin claimed the biggest win of his career over defending champion and World No.2 Novak Djokovic. Australia has already converted its biggest US Open contingent in 43 years to having at least two players in the last 16.
Having won his maiden ATP title this year in Los Cabos and also making the final in Atlanta, Thompson is playing the tennis of his life. The Sydneysider has now matched his career-best grand slam run from the US Open in 2020.
He is yet to drop a set this campaign, and came back from 2-4 in the third against Arnaldi. “It was a great match from me. The third round is pressure. I have not been there too much in my career,” he said.
Chris O’Connell knocked out by Jannik Sinner
It wasn’t as good for fellow Aussie Chris O’Connell on Saturday, whose campaign was ended by World No.1 Jannik Sinner. “I felt like he was on from the get-go. I felt a little bit clueless, to be honest,” O’Connell said after exiting with a 6-1 6-4 6-2 loss.
“Every single shot, I just felt like I had to do something with it because he was just on me. He was suffocating me. I’ve got to believe but I just felt that he was really on fire. The best tennis player I’ve ever played, for sure.”
