Alex de Minaur has shifted up a gear to power into the Australian Open third round at Melbourne Park.
A man on a mission, de Minaur crushed Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3 6-0 6-3 in bang on two hours on Wednesday to storm into the last 32 of his home grand slam for a fifth straight time.
In a reflection of the world No.10’s heady new levels, de Minaur’s clinical victory over the 41st-ranked Arnaldi was his most one-sided yet in 21 Open matches since debuting in 2016.
The heavy defeat was also in stark contrast to his flat first-round win over Milos Raonic, when de Minaur advanced after the big-serving Canadian retired at one-set apiece with a hip flexor injury.
De Minaur next faces either Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli or Russian world No.65 Pavel Kotov for a spot in the last 16, with the former having taken out the other seed in the Australian’s section, Nicolas Jarry, in the first round.
“Hopefully they play for five hours today!” de Minaur joked after his victory.
Still unbeaten this year after opening the season with head-turning wins over Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and an exhibition defeat of Carlos Alcaraz, de Minaur will be a hot favourite to continue his run.
Speaking to Nine’s Jim Courier after the match, the 24-year old was ‘very happy’ with his clinical performance.
“Matteo is a hell of a player – very exciting player, has a lot of firepower,” he said.
“I thought I just had to be solid here, use the crowd, try to stay focused. I’m very happy to get the win today.
The fiercely patriotic baseliner promised to exact revenge on Arnaldi for the 22-year-old sealing victory over Australia in last year’s Davis Cup final with his decisive win over Alexei Popyrin.
And the revenge was served cold, with de Minaur ruthlessly reeling off 10 successive games mid-match to blow the second-round encounter open.
“It’s no secret, it was heartbreaking at the end of the year losing to Italy in the Davis Cup final,” de Minaur said.
“But I told the boys, we’re going to be back there. We’re going to get another chance. Today was a little bit of revenge for Australia.”
The win was characterised by some trademark de Minaur defence, with commentators Courier and Todd Woodbridge frequently in awe of his ability to keep the ball live.
“De Minaur is a flat out point thief,” Courier said late in the match.
“He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere! Just blanketing the court. Look at him. Faking like he was going in there. Has to half volley that, when he’s in trouble. No, he’s not in trouble. He’s in charge now.”
After a hard-fought first set, de Minaur quickly took control to win 11 consecutive games, including a second set bagel, to look set to cruise to victory.
However, Arnaldi wouldn’t be quite so easy to conquer, breaking back in the third set after a 28-shot rally to force de Minaur to get back to his best to see off the hard-hitting Italian’s threat.
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Through to the third round for the fifth time in the last six Australian Opens, de Minaur’s next target is to make it three consecutive fourth-round appearances at Melbourne Park.
But in career-best form, a first men’s grand slam quarter-final berth since Nick Kyrgios in 2015 is well within reach.