Last night, Alex De Minaur walked onto court to face the world number one in the Australian Open quarter-finals on day 10.
The quarter-finals brought in a Total TV National reach of 3,674,000 and a National Average Audience of 1,726,000 for Nine.
De Minaur looked confident in straight-sets victories against Frances Tiafoe and Alexander Bublik–for a brief moment, that confidence shone as he matched Alcaraz’s power early on, impressing crowds with a quality first set.
However, the contest soon tilted in Alcaraz’s favour. He sealed a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 victory in two hours and 15 minutes.
“In terms of mentality or the way I committed to hitting the ball today, it’s what I set out to do. I just can’t really execute it. I didn’t really execute it for the whole match. There was some good parts out there, but overall, I’m playing out of my comfort zone and at times out of my skin,” De Minaur said.
“Of course, for me to take that next step, I’ve got to be comfortable in playing that sort of way for the whole match, and that’s what it takes, to take it to the next level, especially against these types of guys,” he added.
De Minaur has now exited at the quarter-final stage of a major competition on seven occasions, losing six times and withdrawing once through injury. While the 26-year-old believes he is moving closer to his peak level, sustaining it across an entire match against the very best remains the challenge.
“You just keep practising, keep working at it, keep getting to the stage of committing and playing at that level more frequently. Then some tweaks here and there that’s going to allow me to increase ball speed, because at the moment the way my natural groundstrokes are, they’re quite flat, and it’s quite difficult for me,” he said.
Over on Seven, Home and Away saw a National Average Audience of 992,000.
Channel 10‘s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! won a National Average Audience of 738,000.
The episode saw controversial I’m A Celebrity star Deni Hines quit the jungle in dramatic scenes amid public backlash over her behaviour. Hines walked out of the jungle after ranting that she needed a poo and refused to eat rice and beans for dinner yet again.
ABC‘s 7.30 brought in a National Average Audience of 790,000.
