Alex de Minaur put on the spot about upcoming wedding after huge Australian Open win – as a beaming Katie Boulter watched on from the stand
Alex de Minaur has stormed into the fourth round of the Australian Open for the fifth consecutive year with a huge win over Frances Tiafoe and No.1 fan and fiancée Katie Boulter cheering him on at Melbourne Park.
De Minaur has become the first local man since John Newcombe to make the fourth round of the Australian Open five years in a row.
The Aussie temporarily moved to No.5 in the world, but endured some nervous moments to progress to the round-of-16, winning 6-3 6-4 7-5 against the big-hitting American.
While de Minaur had the full hometown support riding him home for the win, his biggest fan was English tennis star and fiancée Katie Boulter.
And veteran tennis commentator Jim Courier made sure he grilled the Aussie over his upcoming nuptials after the win.
‘We all know how much you want the big wins, but you already locked in a huge win this year,’ the former US star said.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur celebrates reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open for the fifth consecutive time
His fiancée Katie Boulter was in the stands cheering him on against USA’s Frances Tiafoe
The American put up a tough fight but de Minaur was too good and won in straight sets
‘You and your fiancée are getting married this year. Congratulations to you and Katie.
‘How involved are you planning to be in this wedding planning or are you gonna leave it to Katie?’
De Minaur, put on the spot, quickly replied: ‘Are you doubting me Jim?’
‘I’m definitely doubting you,’ Courier replied.
Alex then asked: ‘This is like a 50/50 relationship right?’
Courier then fired back with this zinger: ‘You’ve not been married. You don’t know. You’re about to become a 49 per cent shareholder of a really great company.’
De Minaur then opened up on the wedding planning and said he was happy to be involved – to a point.
‘Honestly the fact that we’re both tennis players and we both have a busy schedule, we are doing as much as we can together,’ he said.
Following his on-court grilling about his upcoming wedding, de Minaur signed Katie’s name on one of the broadcast cameras
‘I’ve been involved so far with some of the decisions.
‘I’m sure when it comes to the details of napkins and flowers and decoration purposes, that’s not my forte, I’ll leave that for Katie’
The Aussie star will next meet 10th seed Alexander Bublik, who beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4, before a potential quarter-final with world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz.
It took de Minaur two hours 43 minutes to take down the 29th seed Tiafoe, who never gave up on Rod Laver Arena.
In his first match of the tournament against a seeded opponent, de Minaur completed his fourth win from five outings against the talented, but often-wayward Tiafoe.
The dual major semi-finalist virtually handed the first set to de Minaur due to a series of unforced errors.
De Minaur broke serve twice during the second set and appeared to be crushing Tiafoe’s spirit.
But Tiafoe did pull one of the breaks back to force de Minaur to close out the set.
American singer Harry Connick Jr was one of the famous faces in the crowd to watch the match
De Minaur became the first Aussie men’s star since John Newcombe to reach the fourth round, five times in a row
Tiafoe lifted towards the end of the match but de Minaur was able to find another gear to put him away
A short break at the start of the third set due to a person in the crowd falling unwell didn’t seem to immediately halt the rampant Australian’s momentum.
Tiafoe gave de Minaur a slight scare towards the end, getting back on serve and defending match points.
But ‘Demon’ broke back at 5-5, before serving for the match.
‘Frances is a hell of a competitor, a hell of a player, it was a hell of a battle,’ de Minaur said.
‘I played some of my best tennis in the tournament for two and a half sets, and he just lifted it when he needed it.
‘In my brain, I don’t associate playing in Australia with pressure, I associate it with just excitement.
‘I’ve known since I was a little kid this is where I wanted to be, where I wanted to play, in front of packed crowds.
‘I’m truly fortunate to be in this position.
‘Yes, it gets stressful at times, but that’s only because I want it so bad, so I’ll do my best.’
Despite having never progressed past the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park, de Minaur is in rare air.
Not since the legendary Newcombe from 1969 to 1976 has an Australian man reached the fourth round of their home grand slam in five-straight years.
De Minaur is also the first Australian man to make five fourth-round appearances at Melbourne Park since Lleyton Hewitt, who achieved the feat seven times between 2000 and 2012.
He equals Pat Cash and Mark Philippoussis in sixth place for most round-of-16 appearances at a grand slam by an Australian man.
