Australian tennis star Alex de Minaur has a daunting task ahead of him on day one of the Australian Open as his campaign gets underway. Standing in his way in the opening round is Matteo Berrettini, who reached the semi-finals of Melbourne Park in 2022. This head-to-head makes for an exciting chance for the Aussie to shine. He wants to dig deep and make it past the quarter-finals stage in his inaugural Grand Slam tournament.
It’s the Australian Open starting next week, that would create another daunting road for de Minaur. And he’s lost every time — a 0-5 career record against Carlos Alcaraz. Should all go to plan and see both players progress, Alcaraz will be his opponent in the quarter-finals. Alcaraz, who has established himself as one of the sport’s rising stars, poses a significant hurdle for de Minaur’s aspirations to reach the semi-finals for the first time in his career.
One year ago, de Minaur took on Jannik Sinner in a memorable, four-set quarter-final tussle at Melbourne Park. Even with immense effort, he was outmatched and knocked out of the tournament. Sinner has a solid 3-2 career head-to-head record against de Minaur. Still, the Australian managed to come away with victory in their last encounter in Vienna last year.
If de Minaur wins his opening match against Berrettini, he’ll probably meet 29th seed Frances Tiafoe in the third round. So it’s a really thrilling road to go down for him! If he gets that far, he could run into 10th seed Alexander Bublik in the Round of 16. Both possible opponents are no easy task, which further raises the stakes for de Minaur to deliver his best tennis.
Despite falling to 56th in the world rankings, he still presents a fearsome challenge. An impressive feat, as the Italian pushed his way to a career-high world ranking of No. 6. After an injury-plagued 2022, he managed a solid run to the semis at the Aussie Open. It’s his experience on the Grand Slam stage that makes him truly stand out. Immediately from the outset, he’s a real danger to de Minaur.
As de Minaur heads into this year’s event, all eyes are on him after how he’s performed in the special tournament in the past. He now has advanced to the quarter-finals at all eight Grand Slams in his career. Despite his clear global power, he has failed to make it past the semi-finals. It’s a challenging path for De Minaur. That’ll be a much tougher ask given the egregious draw he’s got at this year’s Australian Open.
