Alex de Minaur is in red-hot form after beating Frances Tiafoe to reach the Canadian Open quarter-finals.
The Australian, nicknamed the ‘Demon,’ has won eight straight matches since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Since that match, he has gone on to lift the Washington Open title; saving three championship points in the final against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, before going on to claim victory.
His form has continued to strengthen in Canada, and a 6-2 4-6 6-4 victory over Tiafoe in the round of 16 will have done his confidence no harm.
De Minaur’s victory also catapulted him into new Australian tennis territory.
Alex de Minaur equals Pat Rafter
De Minaur, who produced a fantastic display of agile court coverage during his victory over Tiafoe, created history for his country.
As per tennis blogger Mario Boccardi, Alex de Minaur is now level with Patrick Rafter as the second Australian man with the most tour-level hard-court wins in the Open Era.
After de Minaur’s victory on Sunday evening, he equalled Rafter’s total of 212 hard-court wins on the ATP Tour.
De Minaur now only sits behind two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt, who won 372 hard-court contests during his career.
The Australian will hope to overtake Rafter’s total in the Canadian Open quarter-final, when he faces big-serving American Ben Shelton. The occasion will mark their first contest on the ATP Tour.
An enticing semi-final contest awaits either de Minaur or Shelton. They could face second seed Taylor Fritz or 2024 Canadian Open finalist Andrey Rublev.
De Minaur triumphant despite poor first serve percentage
Alex de Minaur may consider himself slightly fortunate to have defeated Tiafoe after struggling on serve throughout the contest.
De Minaur hit five double faults while only making 43 per cent of his first serves. The ‘Demon’ was also broken five times during the match: one more than Tiafoe.
However, the Australian neutralised this alarming statistic by winning 75 per cent of his first serve points. He was also assisted by a poor serving day for Tiafoe, who only made 50 per cent of his first serves.
The Australian will have to serve much better against Ben Shelton. The American is a player who rarely struggles on serve due to his powerful flat, slice and kick-serve techniques.
