De Minaur charges into fourth round at Roland Garros 2024
Paris, France, 2 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Alex de Minaur has become the first Australian in 17 years to progress to the men’s singles fourth round at Roland Garros.
The 25-year-old continued his career-best run in Paris with a stirring 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-3 victory against big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff in third-round action today.
De Minaur described the match as a “huge mental battle”.
“I would probably say it was one of my best performances mentally I’ve had probably in my career to turn that match around with the conditions, with everything really against me,” De Minaur said.
“I’m extremely stoked to have made the second week of Roland Garros.”
The world No.11 looked in trouble early, trailing 3-6 1-3, but with his never-say-die attitude, managed to find away to turn the match into his favour.
De Minaur also recovered from an 0-2 deficit in the third set, returning after a lengthy rain delay to win six of the next seven games.
“I just told myself that, you know, the only chance or way I was going to win this match was just to fight ’til the end, fight every single point, keep battling, try to stay in no matter what, and that’s what got me the win,” De Minaur admitted.
“I battled through, and I managed to turn it around at times where it looked quite dark out there, and, yeah, I’m very happy with that.”
World No.41 Struff struck 43 winners to 28 throughout the two-hour and 54-minute encounter, but De Minaur’s newfound self-belief on his least favourite surface was evident under pressure.
The Australian made the most of his opportunities, converting seven of the 10 break points he earned throughout the high-quality contest. Struff, on the other hand, only secured four of the 15 break points he held.
“I was suffering ’til the very last point. That’s the honest feeling I had out there,” De Minaur said.
“Almost every service game I was fighting off break points. There was never a stage where I felt like, ‘Okay, I’m in command, I’m in control, I’m just going to run away with this’.”
Struff is an accomplished clay-court player, entering the match with 11 wins from his 14 matches on the surface this season. At world No.11, De Minaur becomes the lowest-ranked opponent that the 34-year-old has lost to on clay in 2024.
“It’s huge,” De Minaur said of his result. “I mean, it’s huge for the confidence, huge for just also rewarding yourself for the hard work and staying in the match, right? A lot of the times, you know, you do your best, you fight your hardest. But, you know, this is tennis. Sometimes you don’t get rewarded.
“But a day like today where, you know, I’m backed against the wall, a lot of things going against me, and managing to kind of find the gold at the end of the tunnel is huge. It kind of gives me that confidence that I can do it again and again now.”
This impressive effort sees De Minaur become just the ninth Australian man to advance to the fourth round at Roland Garros in the past 40 years, and the first to reach this stage since Lleyton Hewitt in 2007.
Roland Garros men’s singles Australians to reach the fourth round in past 40 years Player Year Pat Cash 1988 Pat Rafter 1994, 1997 Scott Draper 1995, 1996 Mark Philippoussis 1997, 2000 Mark Woodforde 1997 Jason Stoltenberg 1998 Lleyton Hewitt 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 Wayne Arthurs 2001 Alex de Minaur 2024De Minaur’s reward is a fourth-round showdown with world No.5 Daniil Medvedev.
The 28-year-old Medvedev, a six-time Grand Slam finalist, has won six of their eight previous encounters. All of these have been on hard courts.
“It should be hopefully fun to play him on the clay,” De Minaur said. “I have yet to do that, so hopefully we can play a good match and I can go out there and show what I can do.”
Inclement weather again in Paris meant all scheduled doubles matches featuring Australian players were postponed for the day.
With tournament organisers prioritising singles matches, Thanasi Kokkinakis’ third-round encounter with American Taylor Fritz was brought forward. However, it has been suspended with world No.12 Fritz holding a 3-0 advantage in the opening set.
Aussies in action – Roland Garros
RESULTS Men’s singles, third round [11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) d Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-3
COMING UP Men’s singles, third round Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) v [12] Taylor Fritz (USA) 0-3 to finish
Men’s singles, fourth round [11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v [5] Daniil Medvedev
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2024 men’s singles draw
Women’s doubles, second round [2] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) v Wang Xiyu (CHN)/Yuan Yue (CHN)
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2024 women’s doubles draw
Men’s doubles, first round [2] Matt Ebden (AUS)/Rohan Bopanna (IND) v [Alt] Orlando Luz (BRA)/Marcelo Zormann (BRA) Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/Denis Shapovalov (CAN) v [14] Nathaniel Lammons (USA)/Jackson Withrow (USA) John-Patrick Smith (AUS)/Denys Molchanov (UKR) v Petros Tsitsipas (GRE)/Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)
Men’s doubles, second round Max Purcell (AUS)/Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [7] Wesley Koolhof (NED)/Nikola Mektic (CRO) 4-6 6-4 1-1 to finish John Peers (AUS)/Roman Safiullin v [10] Sander Gille (BEL)/Joran Vliegen (BEL) Rinky Hijikata (AUS)/Guido Andreozzi (ARG) v TBC
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2024 men’s doubles draw
Mixed doubles, first round Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA)/John Peers (AUS) v [5] Vera Zvonareva/Sander Gille (BEL)
Mixed doubles, second round [1] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Matt Ebden (AUS) v TBC
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