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Alex De Minaur

Wow! How good is Alex De Minaur! He just defeated Marton Fucsovics in such terrific fashion after a tight encounter with a straight-sets win at Ken Rosewall Arena, as Australia level 2-2 v Hungary with the 5th and deciding singles tie left to go.

Both players played so well when they were neck in neck for that opening set lead, but De Minaur got there first via the tiebreaker before he overcame another tough duel & held off Fucsovics that wowed the home crowd supporters by his side.

Final Score: 7-6 via 7-4 tiebreaker, 6-4

Fucsovics didn’t get the win he deserves through two hours of play on the court today v De Minaur. He got the build-up base going where the Hungarian was on the same page as the Aussie for the whole time, which helped him stay on top of his game. He just couldn’t group himself when Fucsovics was under immense pressure while trying to overtake & hold off De Minaur, and De Minaur spotted his one huge weakness that saw the Australian escape in both sets.

And going back to De Minaur, it’s incredible to see him save Australia’s hopes alive in their 2022 Davis Qualifier v Hungary on home soil after four ties out of five. He never gave up with so much fight under his belly, having been on the same page as Fucsovics. It gave him some time to get on top of his opponent before De Minaur re-setted the momentum via the tiebreak, got himself past the opening set & persisted in that fight, as Australian No.1 was able to maintain his path towards victory.

Australia is turning their attention to Thanasi Kokkinakis for the 5th and deciding tie v Zsombor Piros right now, with the Davis Cup Finals place up for grabs later this year if Kokkinakis can wrap up a 3-2 series win.

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Hungary has just fought back v Australia 1-1 in the 2022 Davis Cup Qualifiers after Day 1 tonight at Ken Rosewall Arena. Good start from Marton Fucsovics and Thanasi Kokkinakis, where both players fought very hard during a very competitive first set that went down the wire via the tiebreak. Fucsovics won that tiebreak and led 1-0 going into the second set, but Kokkinakis fought back comfortably at 1-1 apiece, with this match-up not over yet towards the third and final set decider. In the end, Fucsovics managed to find his way past Kokkinakis and held him off with the win for his country, Hungary.

Final Score: 6-7 via 4-6 tiebreaker, 6-1, 3-6.

Unlucky for Kokkinakis, who did well to catch up Fucsovics & not give him a free run. He fired the pressure well back to his opponent, especially in the 2nd set that reflected his fightback, as it gave him another chance to redeem himself ahead of the final set spell. But it’s not just his night tonight when Kokkinakis struggled to overtake & hold off Fucsovics, where Fucsovics exposed him in the opening set tiebreak & 3rd set decider, and that sums up his loss in this match-up.

Meanwhile, brilliant play by Fucsovics with the win in this second singles tie v Kokkinakis for Hungary. He did well to move past his opponent earlier on and took his time while leading, where Fucsovics overcame Kokkinakis during the 1st set tiebreak. Now he may have missed the chance to close out in straight sets when he was tied 1-1 after the second set, but Fucsovics knew one thing Kokkinakis wasn’t good at where the Hungarian eventually beat him to the punch, which is taking over and holding off the lead.

Two matches gone, three to go tomorrow with one doubles tie plus two more singles games up for grabs in the best of five in the 2022 Davis Cup Qualifiers, between Australia v Hungary at Ken Rosewall Arena.

Tomorrow’s schedule from 1 pm

Doubles: John Peers & Luke Saville for Australia v Marton Fucsovics & Fabian Marozsan.

Two Singles matches: Alex De Minaur (Australia) v Marton Fucsovics (Hungary), Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia) v Zsombor Piros (Hungary).

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Great start by the Aussies v Hungary on Day 1 of the 2022 Davis Cup Qualifiers at Ken Rosewall Arena. It was a competitive opening set spell between Australian No.1 Alex De Minaur and Zsombor Piros. However, it’s De Minaur who just narrowly escaped Piros with the early lead before he wrapped up comfortably in straight sets (7-5, 6-2).

Piros would be disappointed with the loss there. He tested De Minaur well that held the Aussie back on occasions, and he almost put in a tiebreaker that would’ve given the Hungarian a great chance to build on from his opening set performance. He just couldn’t give himself a bit more time when Piros made up some lost time, then a close first set loss threw him an even tougher challenge after the break & was unable to find a way out ever since.

And hats off to De Minaur with the win that gifted Australia a 1-0 lead after this first singles match-up. We love how he stuck to his game & never gave up battling while facing a decent opponent like Piros in the first set. Thankfully, he overcame a close battle unscathed when it comes to the executions before De Minaur smashed this game with confidence.

Next up is Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia) v Marion Fucsvovics (Hungary) in the second singles match of the 2022 Davis Cup Qualifiers series between Australia v Hungary.

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Great to see Ash Barty in the Quarter-Finals after another straight sets (6-4, 6-3) win v Amanda Anisimova, she had fought back a series of close battles at the beginning which wasn’t easy before it led to a easier path later on that summed up Barty’s terrific Sunday night at Rod Laver Arena. Her next challenger will be 21st seed Jessica Pegula on Wednesday, where one of them will face either Barbora Krejcikova or Madison Keys for the first semi-final tie on Thursday.

Anisimova played some great games especially when she fired off early on both sets, but she just couldn’t bridge that 2nd half consistency that became her huge weakness throughout this round of 16 tie and it eventually let her down. She has a bright future though having upsetted the reigning champion Naomi Osaka prior to her meeting last night v Barty, and Anisimova is sure to return where she left off from the 2019 French Open semis with the help of her consultant Darren Cahill.

For now, it’s all eyes on the men’s singles side and hope that another Aussie will advance to the Final 8, when Alex De Minaur will meet 11th seed Italian Jannik Sinner later this afternoon also at Rod Laver Arena.

#Tennis #AshBarty #AmandaAnisimova #JessicaPegula #AustralianOpen #GrandSlam #RodLaverArena

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What an easy win for Alex De Minaur here at Rod Laver Arena as the Aussie nailed down Spaniard Pablo Andujar in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 2-6), he will now advance into the 4th round which is his career-best here so far and will face 11th seed Italian Jannik Sinner on Monday for a shot towards the Final 8.

Andujar was disappointed with the loss where he showed some fight that remained so competitive against De Minaur for the majority while fighting for these stage wins, he just missed that finishing part that fell just short twice before Andujar was wiped out this quick in the 3rd and final set.

And nice to see the Aussie crowd upped the noise for their hometown hero Alex De Minaur, who is the only guy still in contention, for the Round of 16. He’s got that build-up base going that allowed him to stretch a decent lead while Andujar fought back late, it gave him time to keep the momentum as this game goes on and it worked well where he went all-in with a super-easy run to the finish line.

We’ll see if this stella campaign from “The Demon” continues on Monday and have an extended shot towards the title.

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Alex De Minaur continues his winning start to the 2022 Australian Open campaign with a comfortable win against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 2-6) at Rod Laver Arena, he wrapped this 2nd Round tie in 1 hour and 39 minutes.

De Minaur always got his build-up base up and running that helped stay ahead over Majchrzak, it gave the Aussie ample time to get the job done during the first two sets while the Pole began to catch up before he shut his opponent out towards the finish line with a nice & easy third set spell.

His best result here was Round 3 twice in 2019 & 2021 where De Minaur hopes to get past the Spaniard in Pablo Andujar before Round 4, and as long as he keeps that winning form then a Finals eight spot will come to him having made it once two years ago at the US Open.

And Majchrzak didn’t have a great day out, who did his best to hold back De Minaur, having won some games & closed in along the way towards the end of these first two sets. However, he just couldn’t hijack his opponent’s stella momentum & finish it off his way before Majchrzak became eliminated so quick in the 3rd & final set.

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How good was Alex De Minaur last night when he went from the opening set down to a terrific all-round performance ever since at Margaret Court Arena, he had some tough moments against Lorenzo Musetti but De Minaur found it easy as the game went on where he found the finish line first.

Meanwhile, Musetti would be disappointed not to kick on having responded beautifully with the opening set win. However, these poor starts he struggled to keep up with De Minaur was his main weakness and that’s where he was exposed with plenty of valuable lost games followed by the eventual elimination.

Final Score: 6-3, 3-6, 0-6, 3-6

De Minaur’s next opponent for Round 2 tomorrow will be Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak.

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Such a competitive 2nd game between Australian Alex De Minaur & Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics where De Minaur had a great start even in the toughest of rallies that was enough to pull off in the 1st set at 7-5, But Fucsovics bounced back with a 1-1 lead at 2-6 having been too good after the break while De Minaur have struggled to keep the momentum on his end.

And these two players never stopped fighting for top spot until the every end via the tiebreaker as De Minaur wrapped this gruelling three-hour encounter with the win v Fucsovics for Australia, who secured their first win of this year’s Davis Cup finals in Group D.

Final Score: 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 in 7-2 tiebreaker.

Then we wrap up Australia’s day in the office (Alex Bolt & John Peers) v Hungary (Fabian Marozsan & Zsombor Piros) with the doubles as Australia have the upper hand at the beginning in a nice 1st set lead at 6-3, although they couldn’t hold off at the first attempt in straight sets via an extremely competitive tiebreaker 11-13 after the break (6-7) but found their way home first that secured a 2-1 series win for Australia.

Final Score: 6-3, 6-7 via 11-13 tiebreaker & 6-3.

All Australia can do now is pray for the other results to go their way & take the last two remaining Quarter-Final spots as the 1st & 2nd best runner up later today.

#Tennis #DavisCup #DavisCupFinals #Australia #Hungary #AlexBolt #JohnPeers #AlexDeMinaur #MartonFucsovics #PalaAlpitour #FabianMarozsan #ZsomborPiros

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It’s not been a great day in the office for Australia today in the 2021 Davis Cup Finals when they were clean swept by Croatia 3-0 during their first of two Group D encounters at Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy.

Yes, that first game between Croatian Borna Gojo and Aussie Alexei Popyrin was really intense with really great battles from both players that gone down to the very end but it’s always Gojo who nailed Popyrin down first in straight sets (Final Score: 7-6 via 7-5 tiebreaker & 7-5).

Then we turn our attention to Marin Cilic & Alex De Minaur where De Minaur redeemed himself in the second set after a poor start earlier on, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold off the win De Minaur wanted for Australia despite that early lead in the third set (Final Score: 6-1, 5-7, & 6-4).

And last but not least the doubles tie with Croatia (Nikola Mektic & Mate Pavic) being too good along the way here to wrap up a 3-0 whitewash v Australia (Alex De Minaur & John Peers), Australia might have the early fire off but just wasn’t able to produce the goods needed to hold Croatia back (Final Score: 6-3, 6-1).

With that being said Australia’s next encounter in Group D is Hungary on 8pm Saturday Night AEDT as they needed to smash something big & win all three ties via both singles & a doubles game
if an unlikely Quarter-Finals berth comes their way.

#DavisCup #Croatia #Australia #Tennis #PapaAlpitour #DavisCupFinals #BornaGojo #AlexeiPopyrin #MarinCilic #AlexDeMinaur #JohnPeers #NikolaMektic #MatePavic

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Fabio Fognini and Alex De Minaur went side by side to kick off this game at Margaret Court Arena. So things went steady between the two. Fognini was the first player to pull the lead away from De Minaur past the halfway mark. De Minaur did close the lead to Fognini 4-5.

But De Minaur just did not have enough time to sort out his conversion play. After a slow first half run where he would like to fix up after the break. As Fognini wins Stage 1 6-4. Nothing much has changed going into Stage 2. Where Fognini still just ahead of De Minaur in a bid to tie two straight mini wins. De Minaur on the other hand reported a lack of feel in the 1st & 2nd half play. And it has been a frustrating night so far for De Minaur. With Fognini once again firing on all corners for the Stage 2 win 6-3. The 33 year old Italian just needs one more stage win to set up a fourth round showdown.

Nothing much unfortunately changed without the control of De Minaur. When the Australian No.1 seed alone searched all night on ways to hold down Fognini. The solutions were not there when Fognini pulled off another big lead away off De Minaur. Progress at last was finally made when De Minaur began to fight back. Where Fognini made two double faults at the first match point attempt. As well as unable to get over the net during the 2nd time of asking. But it was still a big enough lead from Fognini to close out the win. The final score was done just over two hours of play at 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Bugger for De Minaur who tied his best result of Round 3 twice here from 2019 & 2021. There is fightback and courage at last. But just left it so late until the last minute. Where he was struggling with the fire off & conversion play mightly. And that kind of little to no momentum will leave him isolated. With time eventually ran out against him to repair the Stage 1 & 2 losses. De Minaur though should take those weaknesses & come back better next time.

While Fognini has dominated this game all night to connect the 1st & 2nd half performances. And marry up all three stage victories in straight sets. Where he turned this Round 3 tonight into his 4th round ticket. He will now meet Spainard Rafael Nadal who just beat Cameron Norrie from England. Norrie was originally from South Africa & used to fly with New Zealand colours. The other game scores are 7-5, 6-2 & 7-5. Well there is no Aussies now in the Men’s singles section now. But Ash Barty is still the lone Aussie in the women’s singles where she will face Shelby Rogers from USA.

Day 6 now done at the Australian Open and the first of the five days at least without fans. We are missing the fan crowd/atmosphere & the Jim Courier post-game interviews. Just like NASCAR on NBC refused to have a theme song last year with nobody. But the organisers have to follow the strict Government rules. So we do not get sick. We cannot wait for Day 7 though tomorrow on Valentines Day. Before the finals week begins in the next few days.

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