Alex de Minaur has been knocked out of the Australian Open by world number one Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.<\/p>\n
“When he’s playing against the best or the top player, he’s trying to be more aggressive, which sometimes [means] he’s just out of his comfort zone,” Alcaraz said after his 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 win over de Minaur.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes we’re seeing him miss quite easy balls, let’s say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I notice that and we know how to approach the match.”<\/p>\n
The constructive feedback would not be lost on de Minaur, who acknowledged he was out of his “comfort zone” when playing major winners such as Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n
As the world number six reflected upon a second consecutive quarterfinal exit at Melbourne Park, he admitted to feeling shattered.<\/p>\n
De Minaur challenged Alcaraz early, levelling the first set at 5-5 as a captivated Rod Laver Arena crowd watched on.<\/p>\n
But Alcaraz shifted gears to win consecutive games and claim the set.<\/p>\n
![\"Carlos](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dba80ecc9d3e687d4385c512e132597e.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Carlos Alcaraz was a class above Alex de Minaur. (AP: Aaron Favila)<\/p>\n
Despite a gallant effort, de Minaur remained on the back foot as Alcaraz convincingly won the next two sets to advance to his first Australian Open semifinal.<\/p>\n
“I’m playing out of my comfort zone and at times out of my skin,” de Minaur said.<\/p>\n
“Of course, for me to take that next step, I’ve got to be comfortable in playing that sort of way for the whole match.<\/p>\n
“That’s what it takes to take it to the next level, especially against these types of guys.”<\/p>\n
Having failed to win any of his six encounters with Alcaraz, de Minaur knows the Spaniard can raise the level of his game at a moment’s notice.<\/p>\n
Even when they faced off in the relaxed atmosphere of a pre-Australian Open exhibition match a fortnight ago, Alcaraz confidently dictated terms.<\/p>\n
“When I played him in the exhibition just before the tournament, I thought his level was freakishly good,” de Minaur said.<\/p>\n
“Tonight was pretty similar. Especially in those night conditions, he’s so strong.<\/p>\n
“He’s able to generate so much force and his unforced errors just almost disappear.”<\/p>\n
‘Get back on the horse’<\/p>\n
De Minaur has lost at the quarterfinal stage of a major on seven occasions.<\/p>\n
Reaching the last eight is an outstanding achievement, but the 26-year-old’s unwavering self-belief means he will not be satisfied until he wins a grand slam tournament.<\/p>\n
So far in de Minaur’s career, his passage to going deeper at the “slams” has been blocked by some of the best players in the world, as it was on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
At last year’s Australian Open, de Minaur fell in straight sets to eventual winner Jannik Sinner, while in previous editions he lost to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.<\/p>\n
![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a72a94bfb1d3bef56ace2c768758297b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Alex de Minaur was left frustrated during the straight-sets loss. (AP: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)<\/p>\n
“I’ve lost to Rafa, Novak, Jannik \u2014 twice \u2014 and now Carlos,” de Minaur said.<\/p>\n
“I’m not losing too many matches to players I possibly shouldn’t lose to.<\/p>\n
“You’ve just got to keep on moving. It’s the only way. As tough as it is when you get results like this, you get back up.<\/p>\n
“You get back on the horse and that’s it.”<\/p>\n
De Minaur is resigned to the fact he must “try and keep on improving” if he is to become a genuine contender at the majors.<\/p>\n
“There’s stuff I need to look at and see, and try to work out,” he said.<\/p>\n
But until de Minaur can find the necessary improvement, he will remain a predictable opponent for the likes of Alcaraz.<\/p>\n
“We all know his level [and] his style,” Alcaraz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pleasant and polite, Carlos Alcaraz gives off the impression he does not have a bad bone in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18278,5244,64,63,81,6571,962,188599,81246,221809,25906,85,747],"class_list":["post-441605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alex-de-minaur","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian","tag-australian-open","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-melbourne-park","tag-quarterfinal","tag-rod-laver-arena","tag-semifinal","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441605","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=441605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}