De Minaur Notches Impressive Victory Over Alcaraz, But Injury Puts Australian Open Participation in Question

Alex de Minaur and Spanish wunderkind Carlos Alcaraz have been added to his growing list of prized pre-Australian scalps.
A capacity crowd almost raised the roof at Rod Laver Arena during de Minaur’s electrifying exhibition win on Wednesday night.
While Alex de Minaur won’t receive any rankings points for the 6-4 5-7 10-3 victory in a thrilling match tiebreaker, he will head to the Open dreaming big ahead of the season’s first grand slam starting on Sunday.
“I heard a pretty good quote: ‘How big would you dream if you knew you couldn’t fail?’ So that’s kind of been the motto,” the 24-year-old said.
Giant-slaying Jordan Thompson’s hopes of competing in the Australian Open are in doubt after he hobbled through a second-round loss to Italian Lorenzo Musetti at the Adelaide International.
Wednesday night’s match may have been for charity but the fist-pumping, cursing and intensity from both combatants suggested neither of the two fierce competitors wanted to lose.
Playing his first match of the summer, Alcaraz could have been forgiven for calling an early night after trailing by a set and 4-1. Instead, he raised his game to break de Minaur twice to snatch the second set and force the match tiebreaker.
The Australian, who temporarily retired from the sport to clean boats in 2018 following a spate of injuries, whizzed 12 aces past his Russian opponent and didn’t face a break point.
“It was a mixed Wednesday at Memorial Drive for the Aussies, with Sydney wildcard Christopher O’Connell marching into the quarter-finals, but South Australian Alex Bolt’s dreams of a home fairytale denied by top seed Tommy Paul.”