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At one point during this humbling defeat by world No 1 Jannick Sinner over Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park, the Australian’s mother Esther looked to the heavens. Her son was in the middle of his greatest test, a clash against the world No 1 as deep at a grand slam as the Australian had ever been. But above the open roof at Rod Laver Arena there was no god, only seagulls. And looking down again at her son, the man they called “Demon” was in hell.
In a warning to the other semi-finalists, defending champion Sinner blitzed his top 10 peer, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in a brisk 108 minutes on a breezy Wednesday night. There was no sign of the illness that afflicted him in the round of 16. Rather the opposite, this was a performance that will make his rivals sick in the stomach.
A semi-final against American Ben Shelton – the lowest-ranked player left in the draw – looms for Sinner, who will avoid 10-time champion Novak Djokovic and second seed Alexander Zverev in the next round. That draw and this performance has brought him tantalisingly close to defending his Australian Open crown.
Sinner said he was surprised how well he played against De Minaur, who he has now beaten 10 times in row. “We know each other quite well now, we played last year so many times, and we try to understand each other’s game, trying to prepare ourselves in the best possible way,” he said. “I’m very happy about my performance today.”
Even that understated things. This was an imperious dismantling of De Minaur, a player with a reputation as one of the tour’s best defenders. One that against ordinary tour professionals could be relied upon to get more balls back than almost anyone else. But against the heavy groundstrokes of Sinner even his famed legs were no match, the evening’s entertainment becoming a horror show in a packed arena with high expectations.
De Minaur was the first local to reach the men’s quarters at Melbourne Park since Nick Kyrgios a decade ago, and his steady improvement in recent years has now taken him to the quarter-finals in the past four grand slams.
The Australian has been struggling with his serve in the past two rounds, although he had promised it would return. That claim looked off early on. His first serve percentage hovered around 50% in his early service games, and Sinner took advantage with a break in the fourth game.
It capped the crowd’s energy in what were largely subdued opening exchanges, those present no doubt nervous about the Australian’s task. He had famously never beaten the Italian, and there there were ominous signs that streak would continue. There was just a single break in the first set, but De Minaur was struggling to make his opponent at all uncomfortable, and the deeper the rallies went the more the Italian seemed in control.
Early in the second set a shout from an Australian burst from the audience: “Be ruthless, come on.” De Minaur was clearly trying, and had adopted a slightly more proactive approach. He was more aggressive in points and was trying to get forward in the court, but little bore fruit.
The Australian’s one break point chance came in the second set when he had already given up one on his own serve. It was a fleeting moment of hope for the disconnected crowd, the difference so stark from the throngs captivated by the Novak Djokovic versus Carlos Alcaraz clash the night before.
But that optimism was snuffed out by another error from De Minaur, who gesticulated towards his box, his frustration clearly growing. A point later, Sinner secured the game with a drop shot towards which the best wheels in the game didn’t even start spinning.
Sinner soon accelerated to victory and in a third set lasting just 30 minutes, he broke the Australian three times. It was painful to watch the listless De Minaur, who was eliminated at his home grand slam last year by a 6-0 set against Andrey Rublev in the round of 16, fall so far below his expectations.
Sinner is now the first Italian player, man or woman, to reach the semi-finals at Melbourne Park on multiple occasions. In 2024 he won two slams and became the first player to win at least eight men’s singles titles in a season since Andy Murray in 2016. With his illness behind him, the level he demonstrated on Wednesday suggests 2025 could bring even more success starting against Shelton on Friday.
“He is one of the best servers on tour, lefty, different rotation of the ball is coming, so hopefully I’m ready,” Sinner said of the match up. “Hopefully I can return as as many serves as possible, and then trying to stay very concentrated about my game, like today,” he said.
When the players met at the net, De Minaur seemed to tell Sinner simply “too good”. The Australian walked off with his head bowed, and brought his hands together in a display of thanks to the supportive but disappointed crowd. Or perhaps it was a prayer.
