After a stunning fortnight in Paris, a gallant Alex de Minaur bows out in the men’s singles quarterfinals at Roland Garros 2024.
Paris, France, 6 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Alex de Minaur’s career-best run at Roland Garros has ended in the quarterfinals – but in trademark fashion, he went down in a spirited display.
The 25-year-old Australian was attempting to advance to his maiden Grand Slam singles semifinal and record back-to-back top-five wins for the first time in his career when he faced world No.4 Alexander Zverev at Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Far from overawed at the occasion, De Minaur produced a gallant performance. Zverev proved too good however, advancing to his fourth consecutive semifinal at Roland Garros with a 6-4 7-6(5) 6-4 victory.
De Minaur had his chances, especially in a tight second set. He earned a set point on Zverev’s serve in the 12th game, which he was unable to convert. The Australian No.1 then raced to a 4-0 advantage in the tiebreak, only for Zverev to win seven of the next eight points to take a two-set lead.
With the momentum in his favour, the confident German charged home to record his 11th consecutive victory and improve his head-to-head record against De Minaur to eight wins from their 10 matches.
“I think I put up a hell of a fight in adverse conditions against a quality opponent,” De Minaur said. “Had my chances, probably should have taken the second set, and I think we would have been in for a proper battle. But I left my heart out there. I did everything I could. It just wasn’t good enough.”
> READ MORE: De Minaur declares “I’m extremely proud of my efforts”
It ends an incredible run for the world No.11, who had never progressed beyond the second round in his seven previous main-draw appearances in Paris. De Minaur bucked that trend this year, by almost becoming just the sixth Australian to advance to a men’s singles semifinal at Roland Garros in the Open era.
It has been 27 years since an Australian last reached a men’s singles semifinal at Roland Garros.
| Roland Garros men’s singles Australian semifinalists in the Open era |
|
| Player | Year |
| Ken Rosewall | 1968, 1969 |
| Rod Laver | 1968, 1969 |
| Tony Roche | 1969 |
| Phil Dent | 1977 |
| Pat Rafter | 1997 |
A silver lining for De Minaur is that with his career-best performance in Paris, he is projected to return to a career-high world No.9 when the ATP Tour release its next instalment of rankings.
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