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Enable Cookies<\/a> Alcaraz found himself immediately on the back foot on Rod Laver Arena and he trailed 4-2 in the opening set before fighting back, while a lengthy stoppage for a medical emergency in the crowd at 3-3 in the tie-break was awkward timing for both men.<\/p>\n It was Paul who cracked, double-faulting on Alcaraz’s second set point, and the Spaniard’s extra firepower eventually carried him across the line.<\/p>\n “I think he started pretty strong,” said Alcaraz, who bettered the record held by Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker by reaching a 14th Grand Slam quarter-final before turning 23.<\/p>\n “He came with really strong shots and for me it was difficult a little bit but I stayed there all the time. I knew I was going to have my chances. Overall it’s been a really high level of tennis from both sides. I’m just really happy I got it in straight sets.”<\/p>\n Tale of the Tape: Alcaraz vs Paul Instagram<\/p>\n This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> The improved serve that helped carry Alcaraz to a sixth major title at the US Open last summer has remained a work in progress, and the 22-year-old is particularly happy with the reliability of his first delivery.<\/p>\n He averaged 70 per cent first serves and won 79 per cent of those points against Paul, just a touch higher than his mark for the tournament as a whole. The Spaniard also won 68 per cent of points on his second serve.<\/p>\n “I’m surprising myself,” he said. “The serve is something that I’ve been working on since a long time ago. I’m just really happy to see the improvement of the serve.<\/p>\n “After every set, I try to check (the statistics) out. The four matches I’ve played, the serve has been a really important weapon for me.”<\/p>\n The retooled start of his service motion has a familiar look, and hasn’t escaped the attention of Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n The 24-time major winner joked earlier in the tournament that he has sent Alcaraz a message asking for a copyright fee.<\/p>\n Alcaraz was asked about it in an on-court TV interview, and played along, too.<\/p>\n “Yeah. I heard that. I have the contract over there but I haven’t seen him yet!” the Spaniard said of his exchange with Djokovic.<\/p>\n Instagram<\/p>\n This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Now Alcaraz must try to break new ground in Melbourne when he takes on home favourite Alex De Minaur, who dispatched in-form 10th seed Alexander Bublik 6-4 6-1 6-1.<\/p>\n It is the third year in a row he has reached the last eight, with Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic getting the better of him the last two years.<\/p>\n De Minaur is also bidding to reach the last four here for the first time – and indeed at any slam – and the concerning statistic for the home fans is that he has lost all five meetings with Alcaraz.<\/p>\n “I’m going to have to come out guns blazing and I’m excited for a battle against Carlitos,” said the sixth seed.<\/p>\n Murray: De Minaur playing best tennis of his life <\/p>\n Image: Doubles specialist Jamie Murray, speaking on TNT Sports:<\/p>\n “De Minaur steamrolled him in the end. He came through a tight first set, it was a bit cagey in the beginning, which is understandable as he’d lost to Bublik the last two times he’d played him.<\/p>\n “He got up an early break in the second, took the wind out of Bublik’s sails, and Bublik lost belief.<\/p>\n “I thought it would be a really tight match because I knew the level Bublik was playing at. But De Minaur was so solid. He didn’t give up a break point on his serve the whole match.<\/p>\n “De Minaur got himself into a lot of return points, and once rallies got into a neutral situation, De Minaur could make Bublik move around the court and get well on top. His footwork was incredible, as good as anyone.<\/p>\n “De Minaur is playing the best tennis of his life. When he steps out he feels he has a great chance against anybody.<\/p>\n “It was seriously impressive, he talked about it after how well he’s feeling the ball. It’s going to be a great match against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday.”<\/p>\n Tien upsets Medvedev again in straight-sets win <\/p>\n Image: American Learner Tien overcame a nosebleed \u200cin the opening set to school Daniil Medvedev 6-4 6-0 \u200b6-3 and move into the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first \u200btime in his young \u200bcareer.<\/p>\n Tien upset Medvedev in the second round at Melbourne \u200dPark last year in an epic five-setter that lasted nearly five hours but this \u200ctime he wrapped up the contest in just \u200can hour and 42 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.<\/p>\n Tien took \u200ba medical timeout just 10 minutes into the fourth-round encounter as he stuffed tissues \u200dup his nose, but that did little to stop his dominance on court as he left Medvedev looking utterly lost on \u200cnumerous rallies.<\/p>\n Medvedev had said he \u2060did not like playing Tien after \u200ca trilogy of matches that \u200dwent the distance last year and the 20-year-old American proved him right with a clinical performance that included 33 winners.<\/p>\n Instagram<\/p>\n This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> The victory earned Tien a quarter-final \u200bmatch against third seed Alexander Zverev after he crushed Francisco Cerundolo 6-2 6-4 6-4.<\/p>\n Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, live on Sky Sports or stream with NOW<\/a> and the Sky Sports app<\/a>, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz equalled his best run at the Australian Open by beating Tommy Paul in straight sets to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-389584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Remodelling the serve <\/p>\n
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\n Alex de Minaur reached his second straight Australian Open quarter-final and seventh \u2060at the Grand Slams overall<\/p>\n![\"Learner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/skysports-learner-tien-tennis_7145071.jpg\")
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\n Learner Tien obliterated Daniil Medvedev with some extraordinary shot-making to become the youngest man to reach the quarter-finals here since 2015<\/p>\n
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