Alex De Minaur entered the second round of the Australian Open, Melbourne in the 2024 season after Milos Raonic’s promising performance ended due to injury.
Appearing at the Rod Laver Arena, former world number 3 Raonic is playing his tenth tournament since he returned to competition after almost two seasons away due to injury. He showed a strong serve on the way to winning the first set against the hot home player.
The home tennis player, who broke into the top 10 for the first time in his career since last week after an impressive performance in the United Cup, showed his fighting spirit to come back and build a 6-7, 6-3, 2-0 lead before Canadian tennis player Raonic was forced to retire from the first round match of the Australian Open.
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“I hope Milos recovers soon,” said De Minaur. “It’s not nice to see him like that and he deserves to be healthy and play the game he’s been playing for a long time. So, hopefully he will be back soon.”
“I was just chasing his serve for the better part of the match. Guessing every game and ending up maybe a little unlucky not to win the first set.”
“I felt a little short of breath and I just focused on myself. In the second set, I told myself to start again, get a break, and that changed the momentum.”
The tenth seed, Alex De Minaur, will next face Matteo Arnaldi and they will meet for the first time in the second round of the Australian Open after the Italian defeated the host player, Adam Walton, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4.
In the draw for the same match, the 29th seed, Sebastian Korda, had to go through a marathon match before winning 6-1, 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2 over Czech tennis player, Vit Kopriva. For a place in the third round, the American tennis player will challenge the French tennis player, Quentin Halys, who defeated South African tennis player, Lloyd Harris with 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6.
The 15th seed, Karen Khachanov also advanced to the second round, beating German tennis player Daniel Altmaier with 5-7, 6-3, 7-6, 7-6. The next task for the tennis player is a match against the American tennis player, Aleksandar Kovacevic who defeated the Chilean tennis player, Alejandro Tabilo with 6-7, 7-6, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
