![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/683ac383a16742662048acd494e14e073b08a4cc.jpeg\")
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A remarkable 39 per cent of de Minaur\u2019s serves were unreturned \u2013 which dwarfed the powerful Bublik\u2019s own rate \u2013 and he committed a frugal 10 unforced errors compared to 19 winners in an elite display.<\/p>\n
He also sent down more unreturned serves than Tiafoe in the previous round. The serve is the part of de Minaur\u2019s arsenal that is critiqued more than any other, but it has been a weapon in this latest Melbourne Park run.<\/p>\n
Bublik\u2019s downfall started from the time de Minaur wrestled back the baseline war in the 10th game of the opening set.<\/p>\n
A key part of that was de Minaur hurting the Kazakh with some quality deep returns that ensured he could finally control some points, after Bublik did a good job to that stage of pushing the Australian star deeper in the court than he likes.<\/p>\n
Facing double-break point, a double fault sealed Bublik\u2019s first-set fate \u2013 and the unravelling from there was as quick as it was stunning.<\/p>\n
World No.10 Bublik landed 81 per cent of his first serves in the second set and 70 per cent in the third, numbers that would usually make him difficult to beat, yet somehow he won only 18 of those points during that period, which he bemoaned afterwards.<\/p>\n
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Alex de Minaur, right, of Australia is congratulated by Alexander Bublik, left, of Kazakhstan in following fourth round match.Credit: AP<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scoreline is saying how tough it is [to play de Minaur] because I think I served well,\u201d Bublik said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, especially second and third sets, I served over 70 per cent and I won [a low number of those] points. It was all one-sided, unfortunately. It\u2019s not what I wanted. It\u2019s not what I was preparing for, but that\u2019s tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bublik audibly complained about the court speed during the clash then doubled down post-match, after playing on the faster Margaret Court Arena surface for most of the tournament. But he did concede that it was his fault that he did not adjust to the conditions.<\/p>\n
Wherever you looked, de Minaur had the in-form Bublik covered. Those all-important 0-4-shot rallies? De Minaur won those points 57-35, and was also on top whenever the exchanges went longer.<\/p>\n
Bublik\u2019s impatience cost him repeatedly as, like Tiafoe before him, he regularly struggled to find a way through de Minaur, and resorted to trying to hit bigger and more aggressively, which too often resulted in him misfiring.<\/p>\n
He barely hit more winners than de Minaur, but committed more than triple as many unforced errors. It was a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n
The only hope for Bublik when he went two sets down was whether there were any mental scars left for de Minaur after his collapse from the same position in Paris last year. But this is a new-and-improved de Minaur, who raced to a 4-0 third-set lead before steaming to the finish line.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz, who is missing only an Australian Open title to complete his grand slam collection, has not dropped a set at Melbourne Park in reaching his third quarter-final in the country.<\/p>\n
He has never gone beyond this stage at the Open, but boasts a 5-0 head-to-head record with de Minaur, although each of the matches has been competitive. It is their first clash at a major.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019ve got one of the toughest tasks ahead, so I\u2019m going to make sure that I bring everything I\u2019ve got,\u201d de Minaur said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does help that I\u2019m feeling quite fresh, and it\u2019s going to be a physical battle. There are many things that Carlos does incredibly well on a tennis court, and one of those is making the rallies quite physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to what\u2019s to come. Hopefully, it\u2019s going to be a battle, and it\u2019s going to be a long one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loading A remarkable 39 per cent of de Minaur\u2019s serves were unreturned \u2013 which dwarfed the powerful Bublik\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-437236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}