What a response from Alex de Minaur!

The last Australian to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open was Lleyton Hewitt, who warmed up with De Minaur before tonight’s match.

And De Minaur is fighting hard here despite going 3-0 down. A huge roar erupts from the Australian fans inside Rod Laver Arena, after their hometown hero held serve to take the set to 3-1 and he now has a break point.

Alcaraz has looked a little wayward on his service, with the Spaniard struggling for first serves. He has already double-faulted in the third game and De Minaur has made him pay for his errant deliveries to pull back a break.

After going 30-40 lead in the fifth game, De Minuar pushes Alcaraz towards the tramlines.

The six-time Grand Slam winner moves to his left, but mishits his return stroke, slamming a backhand into the net to give De Minaur a break point.

Alcaraz 3-2 De Minaur

Aryna Sabalenka has revealed that she wants to partner up with Carlos Alcaraz for a Tik Tok collaboration.

The subject of the Belarusian’s birthday rather bizarrely cropped up during the world No 1’s post-match interview on Tuesday.

Sabalenka had beaten rising US star Iva Jovic 6-3 6-0 at Rod Laver Arena.

She interestingly shares the same birthday as men’s No 1 Carlos Alcaraz.

Former world No 4 Jelena Dokic put Sabalenka on the spot following the match, asking the two-time Australian Open champion what gift she’d buy Alcaraz, who is two years younger than her.

‘So I have a question and I think we should make this a tradition. I think you should exchange gifts,’ Dokic said.

‘And if you did, what would you gift Carlos and what would you like to get from him? Because I know you love your diamonds. Just putting it out there.’

Sabalenka will celebrate her 28th birthday on May 5, while Alcaraz will turn 23.

‘What would I give him?’ Sabalenka replied. ‘I offer him a TikTok dance. Probably,’ she laughed.

‘And I would like to receive a “Yes” as an answer!’

‘I mean, I don’t know what else.

‘Last year I forced him to do it, I feel like I can do it again.’

Sabalenka and Alcaraz partnered up to celebrate their US Open triumphs in September last year, with the Belarusian writing: ‘Birthday twin and US Open Trophy Twin. May 5 must be a really lucky birthday to have…’

The pair danced and waved their respective US Open trophies in the clip. The clip was viewed over 8million times on Sabalenka’s TikTok.

‘We’ll come up with something if there’s a good reason behind it,’ Sabalenka, who has 1.4million followers on TikTok, said.

And that is a huge statement from the world No 1.

De Minaur is once again showing his incredible engine getting around the court, but Alcaraz is well in control.

The Spaniard takes the advantage in the second game, and sends his opponent flying left and right across the court.

The six-time Grand Slam champion sells De Minaur some candy, sending him running towards his right tramline, but cutely clips the ball across the net and to the other side of the court to break his opponent.

Alcaraz 2-0 De Minaur

Today marks the first time Alex de Minaur and Carlos Alcaraz will have come head-to-head at a Grand Slam.

The pair have faced off five times over the course of their careers but De Minaur has never beaten his Spanish opponent.

They met three times in 2025, with De Minaur notably being bested by the World No 1 in the final of the ATP500 Rotterdam in February.

More recently, the pair did battle at the Nitto ATP Finals in September. Alcaraz again took victory, sealing a 7-6(7-5), 6-2 victory. Despite Alcaraz’s dominance that day, hitting 32 winners to De Minaur’s 12, the Australian world No 6 impressed, forcing the six-time Grand Slam champion to hit 28 unforced errors during the match.

Another area where the hard-running De Minaur can challenge Alcaraz is his service game.

The Australian is ranked 13th in the tournament for his first-serve win percentage, which sits at 79 per cent. He is fifth for first service return points won (101), four places above Alcaraz in ninth (83).

Similarly, Alcaraz has also not made it past the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. He needs a victory here to finally claim the Career Grand Slam and will no doubt look to use his big game experience to see off the Australian today at Rod Laver Arena.

The Spaniard gets off to a fast start!

He holds serve to take a 1-0 lead against the Australian.

Melbourne, meanwhile, is looking as beautiful as ever…

Alcaraz 1-0 De Minaur

So after that enthralling match, we’ve got another blockbuster coming up for you!

Carlos Alcaraz and Alex De Minaur have taken to the court here.

It’s 39-degrees here at Rod Laver Arena, and interestingly, organisers have opened the roof…

Coco Gauff fumed backstage after walking off the court.

It was a very disappointing defeat from Gauff, who struck only three winners and made 26 unforced errors during the match.

And after the match, she exploded in the tunnel, smashing her racket on the ground at least seven times in a fit of rage.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Jamie Murray said: ‘A very disappointing performance from Coco. Rightfully took it out on the racket at the end of that.’

Laura Robson then suggested that Gauff could have smashed her racket on court, claiming that that could have got her fired up.
‘Not that we advocate this… Do you think that she could have chucked the racket on the court to release some tension?’ Robson said.

British tennis legend Tim Henman replied: ‘It could sort of kick start you into action. I think that she was playing so badly and this result hasn’t come overnight and we know that she’s been struggling. There’s so much focus and attention. And I think we all sympathise with Coco because she is such a great competitor. To get through to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam and have a match like this.

‘That must do damage mentally and there has to be some scar tissue and you can’t just sort of say: “Oh, we’ll forget about that and we’ll move on…”
‘She hit three winners and 26 unforced errors in the match and that is impossible to compete at any level. It was hardly surprising to see her frustrated at the end…’

Svitolina now advances back into the top-10 on the WTA Tour rankings after victory over Gauff.

It comes after Svitolina, who became a mum back in 2023, bested world No 7 Mirra Andreeva in the fourth-round.

‘Not a bad [day at the office],’ Svitolina said after the match.

‘I’m very pleased with the tournament so far. It’s always been my dream to come back after maternity leave. It was always my dream to make the top-10 again. It’s always been my goal.’

‘Unfortunately, it didn’t happen last year. I stopped after September and then when we were training in the off-season, I wanted to get back into the top-10 so this was my goal for the year.

‘It means the world to me. I try to push myself. Very pleased with my tournament here in Australia,’ she added.

That was a domination and a big upset by Elina Svitolina, who will advance to the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career after demolishing world No 3 Coco Gauff in under an hour.

Gauff was miles off her best form today, with Svitolina blasting her way past the American 6-1, 6-2.

The world No 3 conceded 26 unforced errors in the match and simply struggled to match her opponent’s power, winning only 29 per cent of Svitolina’s first service returns.

Svitolina will now take on world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.

Before De Minaur and Alcaraz get underway at Rod Laver Arena, Elina Svitolina and Coco Gauff have gone head-to-head in what’s been an enthralling battle.

The Ukrainian star has taken a commanding lead against the world No 3 after demolishing her American opponent 6-1 in the first set.

The pair traded breaks early on, but the world No 12 put her foot on the gas pedal at 2-1, using her power to win the following four games.

Svitolina continued to heap pressure on her opponent, going 3-0 up in the second set, but Gauff fought back.

She saved a break point to hold serve at 1-3, but is running out of time to mount a comeback, having now gone 1-4 down.

‘Go, go, Coco, go go,’ the crowd cheers.

And Coco holds another game to pull the second set back to 2-4.

You feel the match may just be starting to get away from her, but if she can pull back another break here, she has a chance.

Svitolina has, meanwhile, never reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open, and is two games away from booking a tie with world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

The atmosphere is building nicely around Melbourne Park ahead of this evening’s crunch men’s singles quarter-finals match.

Hometown hero Alex de Minaur takes on world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz at Rod Laver Arena in just under 30 minutes time.

Neither player has reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, with the victor set to square off against Alexander Zverev in the next round.

Alcaraz can take a step closer to securing his first Career Grand Slam if he can best De Minaur tonight. Meanwhile, the hard-running Australian has never advanced past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in his career.

The pair have met five times previously but De Minaur has never once beaten Alcaraz.

Can he do it tonight?