Alex de Minaur has dispelled any notion he’s suffering from an Australian Open hangover, with another impressive victory at the Rotterdam Open that sees him match a feat from the legendary Roger Federer. De Minaur could have been forgiven for being down on himself after being demolished by Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in a lopsided quarter-final defeat at Melbourne Park.

The 25-year-old admitted it was tough to deal with as critics unfairly targeted de Minaur, who is still yet to beat Sinner in 10 career matches against the World No.1. But the Aussie fan favourite has been flying ever since and is yet to drop a set after his Australian Open humbling, having led Australia to victory over Sweden in the Davis Cup and storming into the quarter-finals in Rotterdam.

De Minaur backed up his straight-sets win over David Goffin in the previous round with a commanding 6-4 6-4 victory over rising teenage star Jakub Mensik. The Aussie showed off his extraordinary speed and court coverage, and the way he dismantled the Czech teen suggests he can go one better than last year’s final when Sinner – as always – got the better of him.

The good news for the ‘Demon’ is that Sinner has opted not to defend his title this year but there are still plenty of dangerous opponents left in the Aussie’s way. De Minaur next faces German lucky loser Daniel Altmaier in the last-eight and will be a red-hot favourite to reach the semi-finals of the Netherlands indoor event.

De Minaur’s victory against Mensik means he’s now reached the quarter-finals in four consecutive Rotterdam Open tournaments, with Swiss legend Federer the only other man to have achieved the feat. It’s pretty impressive company for the Demon to be in and the Aussie said some minor tweaks to his game have paid dividends.

“I took a little bit of speed off my serve and focused a little bit more on percentage,” De Minaur explained afterwards. “That was key because I didn’t want to give him a look at too many second serves where he could really be aggressive and try to dictate. I’m glad I executed that. The game plan worked really well today.”

Alex de Minaur through to last-eight in Rotterdam

It took just one break of the 19-year-old Czech’s huge serve in each set to send de Minaur on his way, and the Aussie didn’t give up a single break point opportunity on his own serve. “It’s never easy playing Jakub, he’s one of the best servers on tour, manages to get a lot of free points and at times it is quite frustrating to play him.

“One of the key things for me in this sort of match-up is just try to be calm, and tell myself I’m going to give myself chances on return, just worry about my service games and apply enough pressure on his to get those crucial breaks.” De Minaur’s one-hour 27-minute victory sets up a quarter-final clash with Altmaier, who earned a surprise 6-4 3-6 7-5 victory over 20-year-old French riser Arthur Fils.

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If the Australian gets past Altmaier and books a spot in the the semi-final, he could run into Stefanos Tsitsipas, who holds an 11-1 win record over de Minaur. The Greek sixth seed had to save a match point before edging local Dutch hope Tallon Griekspoor 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 and will next play exciting Italian lefty Mattia Bellucci, who stunned second seed Daniil Medvedev in a big upset.

World No.3 Carlos Alcaraz also advanced to the last eight after cruising past qualifier Andrea Vavassori in straight sets. The tournament top seed and and four-time major winner needed just over an hour to defeat Italian doubles specialist Vavassori 6-2 6-1 and continue his hunt for a first indoor trophy.

with AAP