"There are two ways to look at this. Either Alex de Minaur is not good enough to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, for that matter or the world's top two players are in a class of their own. Sadly, for Australia's top-ranked player, both things are true. De Minaur's 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 quarter-final defeat by Alcaraz on a hot, breezy evening at the Australian Open on Tuesday was a humbling experience."
"De Minaur has now lost all six of his matches with Alcaraz and an even more brutal statistic all 13 of his matches against Sinner, winning just two sets against the Italian. One of those came in Beijing last September, an indication, De Minaur felt, that he was getting closer. He pushed Alcaraz to a first-set tiebreak when they played at the ATP Finals last year, and here at Melbourne Park, he was close to forcing another in the opener. But in the final cold, cruel analysis, he fell a distance short."
Alex de Minaur lost 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 to Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarter-final on a hot, breezy evening. The defeat extended de Minaur's losing streak to 0-6 versus Alcaraz and 0-13 versus Jannik Sinner, with only two sets ever won against Sinner. De Minaur showed competitiveness early but faded and looked helpless as Alcaraz relaxed and experimented. De Minaur holds wins over most other top-10 players except Ben Shelton, yet head-to-head margins against elite rivals are slim. The result highlights a clear class gap at the very top.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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