- De Minaur faces the American Alex Michelsen on Monday
- The Australian has not won singles at the Open in almost 50 years
Pat Rafter warns Alex de Minaur to batten down the hatches as the nation's great white hope struggles to enter uncharted waters at the Australian Open.
De Minaur will face young American Alex Michelsen on Monday and will seek to become the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt 20 years ago to reach four consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals.
After dismantling Michelsen 6-1-6-0 6-2 at last year's French Open to begin that glorious Grand Slam run, de Minaur will go into the rematch as a heavy favorite to advance to the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the first time.
But by eliminating 2023 Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas and former 19th-seeded semifinalist Karen Khachanov already this season, the 20-year-old Michelsen has shown he has the firepower to take De Minaur out of the court.
Former world number one Rafter, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2001, backs De Minaur to advance, although he warns the eighth seed to be careful.
“I support him against Michelsen,” Rafter said Sunday.
Alex De Minaur faces the young American Alex Michelsen on Monday
Pat Rafter says the Australian will have to be careful with the American who boasts a great game
'I know Michelson has a great game. Can he keep his composure against someone like Alex? Personally I think it's a bad matchup for Michelsen.
“But this guy has a great game and if he can keep it together he can cause a lot of destruction, I think Michelsen.”
A De Minaur who is not feeling well, lost to Michelsen in their only other previous meeting, last year in Los Cabos, and distrusts the world number 42.
'He's been playing very well. He is a dangerous opponent and very confident now. He's gotten some big scalps this week, so I'm ready for battle,” De Minaur said.
'He will go out without fear. I'm going to do everything I can to make it difficult for him.'
Michelsen fondly remembers his victory over De Minaur, but knows that he may need to make a red line to repeat the surprise against the eighth place in the Open.
“I went out and didn't lose a ball for an hour and a half or the duration of the game. “I couldn't fail,” he said.
“At that time I was playing well above my level. It's always nice when that happens. It's quite rare.
Alex Michelsen emerges as a major threat to De Minaur in the fourth round of the Australian Open
Alex de Minaur will seek to reach his consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals
“That's what happened last time, but I couldn't lose a ball.”
A quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open last year, de Minaur has fallen in the fourth round in Melbourne on his last three visits.
But the 25-year-old feels he learned a valuable lesson during his four-set escape in the third round on Saturday against Francisco Cerulondo.
“Looking back, I think this is probably the first game I played here in Oz where I didn't feel comfortable,” De Minaur said.
“I suddenly felt a little pressure playing. I didn't know what to do.
“I said to myself, 'Yeah, go out there and compete.'”
“Part of me knew that at some point there would always be a game where the pressure would be there and the nerves would be there, the expectation would be there.
'I knew I was going to be a part of this. I just told myself to go out there, compete, and God, I'd rather win ugly any day than lose pretty.
'In the end I lived to fight another day. In the next one I will make sure to bring a better level.”
If De Minaur survives his next test, he will face defending champion and world number one Jannik Sinner or 13th seed Holger Rune on Wednesday for a place in the semi-finals.