Alex de Minaur sinks Pablo Andújar to reach Australian Open fourth round

Alex de Minaur had not even finished winning his third-round match when the contrasts with Nick Kyrgios were drawn. By the time a photo of his adorable golden retriever, Enzo, was being beamed around Rod Laver Arena during his post-match interview, the dichotomy had written itself.

Here was Australia’s quiet achiever, a man of pure intent and earnest endeavour. Kyrgios, that brash entertainer who craves the headlines, had cast a high-profile shadow out of which other locals could only hope to step.

Cue the emergence of De Minaur, the last Australian man standing at Melbourne Park – a man for his country rather than for himself. He is the quintessential Davis Cup player, Australia’s 109th representative; we know this because he has the number tattooed on his chest.

He is the quiet to Kyrgios’s loud. The humility to his ego. The cute, well-looked-after puppy to his callously smashed racket. But to define De Minaur using such one-dimensional tropes does him – and Kyrgios, who is not the devil incarnate – a disservice as a tennis player.

De Minaur’s game has been sharp and implausibly quick since his breakout as a teenager about five years ago. And though he has not always produced his best at grand slams – his best run was the quarter-finals at the 2020 US Open – he may yet do so at this one.

Saturday’s straight-sets defeat of the Spaniard Pablo Andújar was a performance befitting a 22-year-old who, only three weeks ago, also beat the world No 7, Matteo Berrettini, at the ATP Cup.

In August last year he was ranked 17th. Since then he has picked and chosen events and duly dropped down to 42, and was handed the 32nd and last seed in Melbourne by virtue of Casper Ruud’s pre-tournament exit through injury.

But now he is in the