Alex de Minaur shocks tennis world in stunning career first against Taylor Fritz

Alex de Minaur has advanced to his first-ever Masters 1000 quarter-final after a stunning upset win over World No.9 Taylor Fritz at the Canadian Open. The Australian star was too good for his American opponent on Thursday, surging to a 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-1 victory in a back-and-forth encounter.

De Minaur staged an incredible comeback in the first set after Fritz led 5-1. The Aussie capitalised on 27 unforced errors in the set from the World No.9 and converted his sixth set point in the tie-break.

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Fritz broke early in the second set and levelled the match, but De Minaur jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the third and used his all-court abilities to seal the win. The Aussie had never previously made a quarter-final at an ATP 1000 event.

“Never say die attitude. Doesn’t matter the score, I’m always going to fight til the end," De Minaur said. "Being able to compete and stay positive got me into the match. I knew even if I lost that (first) set, I’d be in the match."

It will come as a huge boost for the World No.17 ahead of the US Open, which gets underway later this month. The 24-year-old has been in brilliant form of late, making the final at the Los Cabos Open last week before losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

De Minaur will be Australia's top male hope at Flushing Meadows after Nick Kyrgios announced on Thursday that he won't be playing. Kyrgios will miss all four grand slams in 2023 due to ongoing injury issues.

Before this year, the 24-year-old De Minaur had a 7-30 record in matches against top-10 opponents. But his win over Fritz takes his 2023 record against top-10 players to 5-4.

De Minaur will face second-seed Daniil Medvedev in the quarters after the Russian star cruised past Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4 6-4. Medvedev holds a 4-1 lead in head-to-head matchups with De Minaur.

"It was not easy to play, it was not the worst wind but it was changing from fast to slow," Medvedev said about the tricky conditions.

"You can't hit full power in those conditions and you don't know what to expect. It was not easy for either of us, but I did enough to win. I missed some shots today, but I had quite a good level and I'm happy about it."

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina's shock win over Casper Ruud

Fellow Aussie Aleksandar Vukic won't be joining De Minaur in the last eight. The Sydneysider's campaign was ended by French veteran Gael Monfils 6-4 6-4.

Earlier, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina battled back from a third set deficit to beat Casper Ruud 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (7-4). Ruud was two points away from victory at 5-3 30-0 before Fokina served his way out of trouble and completed a remarkable comeback.

Still leading 5-4, Norwegian star Ruud had a chance to serve out the match but was unable to do so, badly shanking a shot on break point to hand momentum to the Spaniard. Both players held serve to send the contest to a tie-break as the match went past three hours.

Davidovich Fokina claimed the victory with a brilliant drop shot after Ruud's poor serving left him in an early hole in the breaker. "When I broke at 5-4, that gave me like a shot of tequila," the Spaniard said.

Milos Raonic run ended at hometown tournament

Davidovich Fokina will next play American Mackenzie McDonald, who reached his first quarter-final of a Masters 1000 tournament by dispatching Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3 6-3. After crushing 52 aces across his first two matches, hometown hero Raonic's biggest weapon failed him on Thursday.

He managed just nine aces to go with six double faults, some coming at the worst possible times. He double faulted on set point in the opener and a break point in the second that put McDonald up 2-0.

Despite the loss, Raonic said the tournament was a huge achievement for him. The former World No.3 returned to the ATP tour in June after a two-year absence due to injury.

"A lot of things to look back and be proud of and to kind of look back with a smile," he said. "And just happy with how the week went overall."

with agencies

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