De Minaur's 'touch of brilliance' leaves fans in awe

Alex de Minaur has left the tennis world in awe after an “insane” point helped him get his Australian Open campaign off to the perfect start.

The Aussie teenager had the most gruelling schedule of any player going into the tournament but he showed no signs of fatigue in the 6-4 7-5 6-4 win against Portugal’s Pedro Sousa.

REDUCED TO TEARS: Ruthless Sharapova leaves rival shattered

WHOOPS!: British player’s bizarre premature celebration

Just two days after winning his maiden ATP title at the Sydney International, the 19-year-old was riding a wave of momentum at Melbourne Park on Monday.

De Minaur got the all important break of serve in the fifth game against his Portuguese opponent.

Sousa was desperate to get a break of his own but the exceptional court coverage from the young Aussie made it tough going.

De Minaur eventually had a chance to serve for the set after Sousa took it to 5-4 but the Aussie was made to work for every point.

However, the local hope set up the opportunity to take the ascendancy in the match with an extraordinary point that ultimately proved crucial.

Pinned down deep on the baseline by the Portuguese, De Minaur had to draw on every ounce of his speed to get to a sublime drop shot.

Not only did the Aussie manage to retrieve that, he then followed it up with a sumptuous backhand smash winner that left viewers stunned and helped him eventually take the opening set, 6-4.

The second set went on serve until the eleventh game when De Minaur managed to grab two break points.

He only ended up needing one of them though as Sousa hit a baseline forehand long and the Aussie held his own serve to take a commanding two sets to love lead.

The Australian was expertly wearing his opponent down and began the third set in brutal fashion by grabbing two breaks of serve.

Sousa refused to bow out meekly, deciding to go for broke with his ground strokes as he hung in the contest.

The Portuguese claimed a marathon ninth game of the third set to force De Minaur to serve for the match.

Despite double-faulting at 40-0, De Minaur made no mistake on the next point as he sealed the straight sets win.

The 19-year-old had to play both his semi-final and final on Saturday en route to his maiden ATP title in Sydney.

And seeded for the time at a grand slam following his meteoric rankings rise last year from outside the world’s top 100, de Minaur had taken a pot shot at Open officials for scheduling him on day one.

But he was all smiles again after offering fans on Rod Laver Arena less than a two-hour glimpse of Australia’s new tennis sensation.

It may have been fleeting, but it was also typically lively.

“I’m very happy with my performance. I thought I had to be really tough today and to back it up from Sydney. I’m really happy,” de Minaur said.

“… My team took me through a very tough pre-season, especially for the Australian summer to back up day after day.

“Very proud of the work we put in in the off-season.

“I’m glad it’s paying off.”

His reward is a return on Wednesday to play Mirza Basic or Henri Laaksonen for a likely third-round shootout with the great Rafael Nadal.