French Open: Alex de Minaur Australia’s pride & joy

PARIS, June 3

Alex de Minaur broke a 20-year Australian hoodoo at the French Open today as the 11th seed battled from a set down to stun fifth seed Daniil Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 and advance to his first Roland Garros quarterfinal.

De Minaur became the first man from his nation to reach the last-eight stage at the claycourt Grand Slam since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004, with the victory on Suzanne Lenglen coming after a mid-match blip for Medvedev following a foot blister.

“It’s great. It’s amazing. It’s a great position to be in,” De Minaur told reporters.

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka beat American Emma Navarro 6-2 6-3 to advance to the ninth Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career. “I was ready to fight for every point, I was ready for long rallies,” Sabalenka said.

Italian 12th seed Jasmine Paolini fought back to beat Elina Avanesyan 4-6 6-0 6-1 and reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. She will face fourth seed Elena Rybakina in the last-eight stage. — Reuters

Bopanna-Ebden enter quarters

Paris: Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden erased a one-set deficit to edge past the fighting pair of N Sriram Balaji and MA Reyes-Varela Martinez in the super tiebreaker, moving to the French Open quarterfinals, here today. The second-seeded Indo-Australian pair won 6-7(2) 6-3 7-6 (10-8) winners in the men’s doubles third round.