De Minaur comes through tough Cerundolo test to reach Australian Open fourth round

Last remaining home hope Alex De Minaur safely moved into the last 16 of the Australian Open by coming through a tough examination by Francisco Cerundolo, the No 31 seed, beating the Argentine 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3 at Melbourne Park.

After a tremendously successful opening round for the Aussies, De Minaur now stands as the only player carrying the hopes for his home Grand Slam heading into the second week.

It ended up being a relatively straightforward win for the world No 8, but he was pushed hard in a highly competitive opening two sets during which he fell a set behind.

The contest turned on the second-set tiebreak. De Minaur was able to level the match and from there, backed by loyal home support, the Aussie confidently took the last two sets.

De Minaur, ranked No 8, will face American Alex Michelsen next.

The Australian defeated Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (6-1, 7-5, 6-4) and American qualifier Tristan Boyer (6-2, 6-4, 6-3) ahead of his victory.

In the previous rounds of the first Grand Slam tournament in 2025, Cerundolo, ranked No 31, beat Kazakh Alexander Bublik (7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-2) and Facundo Diaz Acosta (6-2, 1-0 ret.).

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Holger Rune
• Jannik Sinner vs. Marcos Giron
• Ben Shelton vs. Lorenzo Musetti: saturday
• Corentin Moutet vs. Learner Tien: saturday
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Fabian Marozsan: saturday
• Gael Monfils beat Taylor Fritz (4): 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4
• Alex Michelsen beat Karen Khachanov (19): 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Jack Draper (15) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8)
• Jiri Lehecka (24) beat Benjamin Bonzi: 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
• Novak Djokovic (7) beat Tomas Machac (26): 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
• Ugo Humbert (14) beat Arthur Fils (20): 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 1-0 ret.
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Jakub Mensik: 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-2
• Alexander Zverev (2) beat Jacob Fearnley: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Nuno Borges: 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2
• Tommy Paul (12) beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 7-6, 6-2, 6-0