Novak Djokovic produced a statement performance to ease past Alex de Minaur 6-2 6-1 6-2 in two hours and six minutes in the fourth round of the Australian Open. It comes after the fourth seed struggled with his hamstring injury in the first week of the tournament, requiring multiple medical time-outs in his first three rounds, but he cruised through on Monday without needing any treatment to tame any major fears over his physical issue.
Djokovic and de Minaur were facing off for the first time in their careers, with the fourth seed coming into the match with question marks lingering over his ongoing hamstring injury. He previously admitted that the issue was “really bad” in his second and third rounds but came out firing against the 22nd seed.
From halfway through the first set, the Serb went into another gear and broke the 23-year-old to love to lead 4-2. He dropped just two more points in the rest of the opener, creating a set point on de Minaur’s serve two games later and taking it 6-2 after just 35 minutes.
The blows kept on coming for the world No 25 as Djokovic proved relentless, and broke de Minaur twice to start the second set. He raced to a 5-0 lead before the Aussie finally snapped his nine-game streak with a service hold to get himself on the board in set number two.
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Djokovic will now face Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals, in what will be their fourth meeting. The pair have never met at a Grand Slam, and the Serb leads their head-to-head by two wins to one loss, with the fifth seed’s one win coming in the final of Belgrade last year while Djokovic beat him at the ATP Finals in 2021 and 2022.
And Djokovic already appears to have the upper hand ahead of their meeting, as the world No 6 voiced his fear over facing the nine-time Aussie Open champion in the next round. “No one wants to face Novak. I prefer to be in any other part of the draw but not Novak,” he told the crowd after beating Holger Rune in five sets.
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