Alex de Minaur takes the ‘shot of the championship’ to win the four-hour Australian Open
A stunning reflex shot helped Alex de Minaur avoid disaster and advance to the round of 16 at the Australian Open.
De Minaur defeated 31st seed Francisco Cerundolo 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-3 in a difficult match that lasted less than four hours.
Watch the video above: Great reflex shot from Alex de Minaur.
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The eighth-seeded Australian player seemed to face a big problem at first, before the match turned upside down in the second set.
De Minaur was trailing by a set and was serving at 5-6 in the second set when the decisive moment came.
He lost the first point with a powerful missed shot and looked to be on the verge of going 0-30 down when Cerundolo fired a brilliant shot down the line that hit the net and looked set to drop into the corner.
But De Minaur was able to quickly adjust the head of his racket and hit the ball to bring the score back to 15-15.
The shot amazed commentators.
“The reactions of a Formula 1 pilot and what the right time for it to be. I adjusted the paddle angle perfectly, stole that point, and the 30 became 15-15.
He added: “This was one of the most heroic moments I have seen so far.”
Peter Marcato, commenting on the global broadcast, said he was better than any of the young players so far in this tournament.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…that’s an unbelievable reaction. That’s a shot for me of the tournament, I know we’ve seen some of it between the legs and stuff, but this is great,” he said.
Although there is no guarantee that he would have lost the set at 0-30, it would have left the Australian with a mountain to climb. Given that he had never come back from two sets to lose in his career, it left him on the brink of a Grand Slam exit on home soil.
De Minaur was able to hold on and eventually force a tiebreak, which he won to bring the match back to level at one set.
Australian great Todd Woodbridge said the reflex shot kept him in the match.
“There was a moment where I put the highlighter on that and said that kept him in this match. Obviously he still had a third set to play but he turned it around and now we’re in one set.
Lleyton Hewitt also highlighted the importance of the shot.
“Sure, you keep talking about the reactions at the net. That shot that crossed the tape and went over it, I’m not sure how you did it. I could have felt the pain trying to stay in the second set at 0-30.
After taking the tiebreak, de Minaur rode the momentum in the third set to break serve early.
Cerundolo, who was visibly suffering from convulsions, managed to break out of nowhere, but de Minaur quickly got back on top to win the set.
From that moment it looked as if there would only be one winner, but the Argentine never gave up.
There was another pivotal point in the fourth set that helped De Minaur break the decisive serve and end Cerundolo’s resistance.
Cerundolo was serving at 15-0 and looked set to go 30-0 when he controlled a point, but the Australian showed off his impressive wheels to chase down an extra ball and force another surprisingly missed shot from his opponent.
The Australian smashed his legs triumphantly after the point and later said it was a sign that “the legs are back”.
De Minaur took advantage of this momentum to break the opponent’s serve and gain the advantage after a double fault from Cerundolo.
The Argentine received further treatment for convulsions and was suspended at the end of the match before eventually losing to another double fault.
De Minaur will now play American Alex Michelsen in the fourth round, with the winner of that match on his way to the quarter-finals against Jannik Sinner.
“He’s a kid with a lot of confidence so it will be a good fight, but I love these fights and I can’t wait,” V Michelsen said.
Earlier, the two players exchanged breaks at the beginning of the match, before De Minaur appeared on his way to winning the first set when he led 5-3 after a marathon match that lasted 14 minutes.
But things took a turn immediately when Cerundolo held serve before being broken after a double fault from De Minaur.
The Argentine then held on to take a 6-5 lead and increased the pressure for De Minaur to stay in the set. Then disaster struck at 30-40 when de Minaur double-faulted again to drop the first set.
Despite trailing for two sets, De Minaur was able to turn things around with his decisive volley.
