{"id":428696,"date":"2026-01-23T19:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428696\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T19:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:54:08","slug":"alex-de-minaur-sets-up-enticing-last-16-clash-with-nemesis-bublik-at-australian-open-australian-open-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428696\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex de Minaur sets up enticing last-16 clash with nemesis Bublik at Australian Open | Australian Open 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex de Minaur has a date with his own nemesis. The Australian defeated Frances Tiafoe in a spectacular three sets on Friday night, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, to again reach the last 16 at his home grand slam.<\/p>\n

There he will meet Alexander Bublik, the dangerous 10th seed who came back to beat the Australian twice in high-profile matches last year. They were two of a series of agonising, frontrunning defeats that tainted De Minaur\u2019s 2025 season, including one at the ATP Finals against Lorenzo Musetti that prompted him to admit he had become \u201cquite dark\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Against Tiafoe though, there was no late turnaround, even if the American was unfortunate in a tight third set. De Minaur relied on his canny ability to stay in points others would give up on, and a penetrating backhand that made the American\u2019s forehand ill. \u201cIt was a hell of a battle, so huge respect to him,\u201d the Australian said. \u201cI played some of my best tennis in the tournament for two and a half sets, and he just lifted it when he needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite 40 unforced errors \u2013 12 more than the Australian \u2013 Tiafoe helped entertain the near-capacity Rod Laver Arena crowd. At one stage he fell to the court, having lost another see-sawing rally. Hand outstretched, he asked a ballgirl for assistance. With a struggle and a smile she helped him up, as the crowd roared delight.<\/p>\n

De Minaur\u2019s victory means he has reached the last 16 at Melbourne Park for five consecutive years. He is the second Australian man in the open era \u2013 after John Newcombe, who did eight in a row in the 1960s and 1970s \u2013 to achieve the feat. \u201cI\u2019m in a position where I want more, and I\u2019m going to be pushing for that,\u201d De Minaur said.<\/p>\n

That would mean victory over a player who has become his nemesis. Bublik won 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 at Roland Garros in May, prompting De Minaur to say: \u201cI have to adapt and make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/a> It did, at the Paris Masters in October, when the Russian-born player \u2013 who switched allegiances to Kazakhstan as a 19-year-old, citing a lack of support in his homeland \u2013 won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.<\/p>\n

Bublik was still playing late on Friday night when De Minaur was speaking to the press, preventing the Australian from having to divulge his thoughts on the Kazakhstani maverick, one of the tour\u2019s entertainers. This is a man who once said he hated the sport, and credits a spontaneous Las Vegas road trip for his breakthrough 2025. Finishing his match against Tom\u00e1s Mart\u00edn Etcheverry close to midnight, Bublik, however, was asked about De Minaur. \u201cHe\u2019s a local hero, he\u2019s a great player, we\u2019ve shared a lot of matches together and I can\u2019t wait to step on to the court with him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Alexander Bublik is in the world\u2019s top 10 after an excellent season in 2025. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/EPA<\/p>\n

The Kazakhstani\u2019s cavalier attitude offers a counterpoint to De Minaur\u2019s wholesome, Weet-Bix kid approach. Before those two defeats last year, De Minaur had beaten the 28-year-old \u2013 whose deft touch belies his near 2m (6ft 6in) frame \u2013 three times. Those came before Bublik\u2019s recent rise up the rankings, however, which meant he graduated to the world\u2019s top 10 for the first time this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI matured a bit,\u201d Bublik said, explaining his rise to the on-court announcer. \u201cAnd I really like being home to be honest, and I realised quickly when I dropped in ranking if I play well and make a lot of points in few events, I can have more weeks off.\u201d He grinned as he said it, with the same twinkle in the eye that led to him once hitting six underarm serves in a single game (no, not match).<\/p>\n

The Australian does not have a 230km\/h (142mph) serve, and he looks at the game in a different way. \u201cI have been always one to let my tennis do the talking, and I have always found it quite tough to have that confidence if the results aren\u2019t there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know some players have the ability to not be affected by results, but for me, in terms of confidence, it was quite hard for me to really believe in myself unless I got those results. As the years have gone on, I have had those results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex de Minaur has a date with his own nemesis. The Australian defeated Frances Tiafoe in a spectacular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-428696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}