A banner day for Australian tennis has seen two young guns record their greatest ever wins, capped off by Alex de Minaur coming back from a set down to beat reigning Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal in the United Cup.
It came after qualifier Alexei Popyrin downed emerging Canadian superstar Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Adelaide International, marking his own career-best victory.
De Minaur fell to Nadal in three sets in the tournament’s predecessor, the ATP Cup, three years ago but was unwilling to repeat that scenario at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena.
With Nadal somewhat limited by his 2022 abdominal injury, losing shot speed as the match went on and serving at a lower height throughout, de Minaur broke early and often – including winning six straight games during the second set.
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In the end critical errors from the world No.2 and 22-time slam champion cost him dearly, de Minaur breaking at 5-5 in the decider and prevailing 3-6 6-1 7-5 in a famous moment for the 23-year-old.
It was the Aussie’s eighth win over a top-10 player but just the second time he has beaten someone in the top five, following last year’s win over then-No.3 Daniil Medvedev at the Paris Masters.
But concerningly for Nadal he is now 1-6 in his last seven matches, only winning a dead rubber in round-robin play at the ATP Finals against Casper…
